Building several racecars (full roundtube ProStock chassis) in my earlier days I would say that the main reason for a cage is not to protect the occupants of the car. From an engineers point of view the cage is there to connect the supensionpoints with the engine. The stiffer that is the better handling. Flex in chassis are powerrobbers.
The second reason is protection, but as had been said before, a cage can do harm to the driver if you are not well tied down and wearing a helmet. According to the rules (if I remember correctly) is that the top of your helmet should be below the lower part of the mainhoop. This will of course reduce the headroom, especially if you are tall. No sense for protection if your head is over the cage, right.
So if you want a stiff chassis you need a full cage.
Welded subframe connectors like the DSE will strengthen your car, but it will still flex.
It also depends on what you want to do with your car. If it is only to be streetdriven, but sometimes hard, I would say that you don't need the cage.
If you want to race with it, you might need it for the rules, you will need it for the strenght it will provide to the chassis.
To build a car is nothing but a major compromise.
Jan
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