As long as you stay within the design limits you will be fine. I built mine light as Van intended. My empty weight was 1029 lbs. More and more builders are putt

As long as you stay within the design limits you will be fine. I built mine light as Van intended. My empty weight was 1029 lbs. More and more builders are putting a ton of "goodies" in the panel that I believe distract from the true sport nature of the Van's design. I never felt unsafe in mine doing sport aerobatics. Falco's are very nice but will take forever to build. There is a reason Van's has a huge number of completions.