It was very pioneering and led to a lot of military designs. It really pushed military to consider the radial motor due to reliability. Speed was a concern due to increased drag but cowl development from the racers had a lot of clout to sway the spenders of tax money to get warbirds out the door.
With FT showing that a speed plane CAN be affordable and easy to construct I think this would be a great project. I'd even pitch in to do some development on it as well! My Goon has to be bungee launched and that may be something they could cover as well. My launcher only cost me $50 to build and is reliable and safe. With is short wingspan it needs speed to get up but once up is out of sight.