Do you agree that volume does?

On the 808 FC, run the Conti over a Tangente in a 23?

Ok I at least see what you are saying, but I'm still not sure what you are saying is true. For one a tire isn't a rigid structure, it expands with higher pressure, and air is compressible. If all that mattered was cord tension then why not come up with permanent closed cell foam filling with of the proper size to give the ideal cord tension and be done with pumps and flats.

On a pneumatic system as compression goes up the volume and pressure change and thats where a lot of the suspension comes in, much like a proper suspension fork you don't want linear response you want a hard hit to offer more resistance. Granted the effect of a tire impacting road bumps is much smaller than a properly designed air sprung fork, but there is a reason that mtb shocks don't go for a tiny air chamber vs larger ones.

About the only race I'd consider riding Conti's vs Pave's would be a time trial with limited cornering, or a road race with limited cornering. Certainly not crits or any race where confidence in corners is key.

FWIW I'd rather train with Conti's for their durability & race on Pave's, but riding in the SoCal moutains on Pave's gives me a warm & fuzzy that is worth the risk of an occasional flat (and FWIW my experience has been that the Pave's are fine up until about 75% of their life is gone).

Let's go back to mopdahl's observations. Bigger rider on more volume and a wider rim makes sense as does the stickier Vittoria tire. But that comes at a price of wear and possibly more puncture flats.

did you determine the cause of each flat?

clinchers allow for many ways to flat other than punctures. (rim tape askew, installation of tube errors, etc)

Besides the fact that both are sprung by air,

Yes by all means lets ignore the most important aspect of pneumatic suspension.

This weekends flat is unknown. I didn't find anything in the tire. It wasn't a blow out, it's just a small puncture, but it's hard to find the holes on a latex tube because as soon as you get enough pressure to open up the hole a 5-6" section of the tube ballons out and lowers the pressure and you can't find the hole any more.

"Besides the fact"
"Who's ignoring it?"

Er?

...Trust me your neither clear nor obvious.

Your first and third "flats" sound suspiciously like rim tape or installation/removal problems.

The first flat seems an unlikely candidate. That tube was installed by hand and had been in place for several weeks and a number of races.

Thanks for the advice as to the fragility of the latex tubes. I hadn't thought of the tire iron causing problems.

Tom A. is (seemingly) all about the science of the bike...

... after all he rides an S5 which as Cervelo will certainly tell you is the "fastest" road bike on the market. That riding it is akin to straddling a splintery 2x4 doesn't matter to some...

Why haven't you answered my question about regular-sized tires with extra volume in the rims? If it's all about total air volume, why doesn't that work?

Maybe because their is no evidence or data that more air volume doesn't help feel other than you saying so. And no evidence that a rim constructed with extra volume doesn't feel better other than you say it doesn't. Seriously again we are at the point where you can't produce evidence yet we must believe its so.