Cage Design, Are they really worth it in an auto-x Options

[914forme]

It is now offically cold here in Ohio, it will warm up a couple more times this year, so now it is time to ask questions and plan a little.

So is a cage really that inportant to an auto-x car. I was looking at the Spec Boxster build and noticed just how low the weight was on that really nice cage. Since in my class I can lose upto 100 pounds before gaining points, and moving up a class it makes for an interesting balancing act.

So cage <> No cage

I just loose a few pounds off the car to make up for the added weight of the cage.

So is it really worth it. I run the Engmann kit which was 15-16 pounds, the removal of all the floor tar took care of that. I actually lost ~7 pounds over all. I have seam welded and reinforced the rear arm mount points. Since I have take points for all that, and a cage is free unless I tie into pickup points, I think it is a logical step in the stiffness direction.

Since I don't live in the bay area, I can't drop the car off at TCdesign, and have it done, and RacerChris is also to far away, so I will have to either go bolt in, or have one custom built here locally. I know a few certified welders in the area, pipe fitters by trade for jet engines, and the others build Nuclear Power plants. But they are not cage designers.

[Jeroen]

unless you tie the cage to the suspension mounts, it'll do very little for extra rigidity of your chassis
and tie-ing to the suspension mounts may not be legals for your AX class or get you a shitload of points (check your rule book)

so... if you can't tie it to your suspension (because of the rules) I wouldn't do it

if it's for safety, a rollbar only will do just fine for AX