Yeah Cory, I agree. A lot of cars just do a straight X on the plane defined by the A and B pillars. While better then a single bar torsionally, it doesn't provide much buffer in a door intrusion. I definitely think that arcing the bars into the door space is an improvement. In addition to the extra "crush zone", as the bars collapse inwards the should transfer a lot of force against the A and B pillars.
Between the article in Racecar Engineering and
this thread on the 911 forum, I'm still kind of fixated on how to improve the intrusion safety in the door area.