I have a car that I SoloII extensively but also has many, many track miles
on lots of tracks during track days/drivers education events. Some of these
tracks have been up to F1 standards, some have lost their SCCA sanctioning
for road race due to safety concerns.
I am prepared to give up (some) SoloII competiveness for safety when I
negotiate the off camber turn 1 at 150mph. S*** happens, I have a family and
an allergy to pain. So I started looking at a cage......
Road race and SoloI allow weld in cages. There are some horror stories about
bolt in cage failures with 3000lb unibody cars at high speeds. Many road
racers seem to have heard about the same events. I don't know whether it is
due to these stories or because the welded in cages are stronger, you will
see far more weld in cages at road races. Regardless of why there are more
weld in cages, the result is that the top cage designers create weld in
cages and these are the ones that get tested on race tracks throughout the
country.
The argument against weld in cages seems to be that the extra rigidity might
give some cars an advantage not expected when originally classing the cars
in street prepared. We are not running slicks so I don't think the lateral
forces are high enough to overcome the weight penalty.
If the wording is the problem then make the SoloII SP rule require welded in
cages be built to the GCRs.
I think this is the only rule we have that directly limits the safety of our
members. I encourage you to get behind the SPAC committee's recommendation
to allow welded in cages.
-Colin Watson
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