I'm not sure how fair it was comparing different ranked ships with different security support. I thought they were supposed to balance running away and add it back, but I haven't seen it. I would like to see a small, over-matched ship occasionally run away. I've also still seen a lot of SCB use. My experience so far in beta 6 is I'm getting my ass handed to me. Well, not always, but enough to bother me. But I'll blame it on switching to fixed weapons and not having the greatest joystick, but things have been improving.
About different ranked ships, I've always found master Anacondas to be the most difficult, apparently because they use turrets that constantly fire on you. I often had them take my shields down, and they always took the longest to kill. Elites were a breeze by comparison.
I think, when the update drops and it starts counting, I'm going to be very careful about taking on wings until I can hit a ship head on with fixed weapons. With my current joystick I always seem to be pitching high or low. I did order a new joystick that should help a lot. I also need to work on getting back into position. But even in a Vulture, taking on a DBE and IE, even using FA off, I find myself in a circling duel with one while the other can shoot me at his will, and that's not fun - especially when the cops decide not to help. I think having fixed weapons may help (for maneuverable ships), but having wingmates will help even more.
In any case, things are definitely more difficult in the beta than in the standard game, which is good.