Terry, to get right to the point, no I haven't tried one and probably won't. But...

The Gee Bee models were of course just a handful of some of the best looking planes that were ever built and the R-1 probably the most visually stunning example of all of these.
By 'these' I mean of the Golden Age Air racers. Being racers they don't claim a lot of wing area which for a racer would be draggy and less drag for a racer is a good thing.

I myself am a huge lover of the Golden Age air racers but mostly for the insanely gorgeous styling of the time. This was the Art Deco period and though most of these racers do not directly reflect the Art Deco styling (in my humble opinion) it is certainly a part of the time period.

Me being a wing area kind of guy tend to look at other designs as the type I like to fly. But the Golden Age racers are a bodaciously beautiful lot.

Robert