I like the idea, but only if there's a larger list of handicaps, or if those ones are better thought out. Looking at the ones you have it looks like the tournament would be nothing but gatt+flak.
If you put some trust in the players, you could do something like Iron Chef, where the two teams are given a theme which has to be the primary concept of each ship. For instance, today's theme is.... FLECHETTE! Or, today's theme is... AREA OF EFFECT!!! Then give each team a few minutes to plan their build, and they go to work.