There is definately an art to how cages are built. After going up to run the Targa Newfoundland with me this year, the guys at Zuffenhaus decided to take the rallye experience and apply it to cagework.
Keith and Aaron have several years of Grand Am experience where they have seen the results of cars into walls. Targa gave them a chance to see cars with more, ah...creative impacts. With that in mind they took a look at the car I am building and decided to make it as safe as possible for a potential impact from any direction.
We came up with a list of considerations. Sure you can build a jungle gym in a car and protect everything, but the weight penalty isn't worth it. So after much deliberating this was the list of tenants we used:
1) #1 protect the driver
2) use the cage to make a stiffer car (tie into all suspension points)
3) protect the fuel cell
4) don't worry about protecting the engine, but keep it out of the passenger compartment
5) cagework should impede vision as little as possible
6) keep the cagework as far away from the driver's head and knees as possible
7) keep the cage work as light as possible
8) ensure where cage meets chassis, the chassis can provide adequate support
9) build for possible impacts in all directions
10) understand the dynamics of an impact and ensure bends in the cage are properly reinforced and properly located
I'm sure there are more things taken into account, but this should give some idea as to the mindset while building the cage. #10 is an interesting point because I have seen alot of cagework that looks good, but when closely examined you've got to wonder why certain bends are where they are. All to often there is a bend where there shouldn't be and the cage could fold on itself in the right circumstances. Very scary.
Here are a few midway shots of the work they are doing. It is a bit radical from alot of track thought. Apparently they took alot of notes when looking over the factory Subaru WRX's we were running against.
This cage utilizes a "halo" system around the roofline to protect the driver. Think of it as a partial octagon.
I did ask for their permission to post these as I know they have done alot of research to do this. I thought fellow Pelicans, in particular the track rats would appreciate the art behind custom cagework.
Oh, sorry the pictures aren'tthe best. I think they are taking better ones as they document the build. Think of these as...spy shots...
