Brian:
The cage for my next rally car, an EVO-7, will be built by a sprint car mfg. that I know that builds a cage of his own design called "the starfighter" here in Tampa. He is a structural engineer (I understand) and his reputation in this field preceeds him. I have seen cars that have come to his shop after MAJOR crashes and it is impressive to see how ,after seeing about 6 or 7 of those cars, and listening to the story told by the actual driver, the cage held the majority of it's shape and the rest of the car can be put into a can of tomato soup, literaly speaking, of course. I honestly think that cage-building should be left to the professionals and not something that should be done by those of us with limited knowledge in the field. After all, it is only your LIFE and your co-driver's that we are talking about, right? I only wish I would have known him when I had the cage on the Talon built.
If you wish to talk to this guy, and I suggest you do, his name is Dennis Abbey. He is the owner of Performance Engineering Precision here in Tampa, and his number is (813) 620-4293. Get ready to listen to him closely, because after talking to him for 2 or 3 minutes you will realize that he REALLY knows cage-building. He has been he topic of several articles in sprint car magazines. Or come on down, since you are here in the state, and I will take you to his shop. He likes to have racers hang around him ( and they do) while he builds a cage. It is worth the trip.
Carlos
E.T. Racing
Car # 151