Cage questions

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Got in touch with autopower. They said that their cages are made to fit the stock interior, so I guess the gap makes sense in that regard.

That diagonal is perfect and perfectly fine. It allows the seat to be tipped back and not be impeded by hitting the diagonal.

Shame to leave all of that space go unused.

Consider contacting John Pagel who is also the head of tech for Lemons: He can sell you a pre-bent cage for a MINI since he's done a few of them in his shop. I've seen them and they are tight fitting. Of course that makes them more difficult to weld, but end result is more safety bubble for the driver.

If its good then its good. I was looking at the "How not to fail tech" document and the pictures show it going all the way to the corner. When we build cages, we try to stick to as close to the diagram as possible to prevent issues/rework .

For some reason, I thought there were some bars where the distance mattered from the corner but I may not be remembering correctly.

EDIT: I may be thinking of the back-stays. If the back-stays are too far from the corner, they won't work as well.

I hadn't thought of that. It does, however, look like the diagonal will block the view from the center mirror to a much greater extent than a more, um, diagonal diagonal would. This impression may just be due to the angle of the photo, though.

Rule 3.E.1. states:
" ... On all sides, all drivers’ helmeted heads must be at least two inches inside the area enclosed by the cage.  ..."

Here's where a more accurate, specific description would be useful - and I admit I'm not the best one to do so, however:

I suggest something like:

" The helmet must be at least 2" inside the surface of the volume defined and occupied by the exterior dimensions of the cage. "

would be better.

How To Not Fail Lemons Tech Inspection, p. 7/22 Rollcage fig 4, helmet clearance"

So, the cage is not a container which encloses a volume like a saucepan. It's more like a frame you can throw a bedsheet [or shrinkwrap] over, and the _bedsheet_ encloses the volume.

The rule also states:
"At minimum, cage must include: Full front and rear hoop, [edited]... appropriate main-hoop backstays";

so: backstays are part of the cage.

Some have mentioned a "broomstick test", which has been described as:

'put a broomstick on the outside of the cage - the helmet must clear the broomstick by 2 inches'

Agreed, but:

tl;dr:
How about:
" ... On all sides, all drivers’ helmeted heads must be at least two inches inside the volume defined by the cage. Don't know what this means? [in the spirit of the 'voice' of the rules as written] Stretch a bedsheet over the frame. Keep at least two inches away from the sheet. ..."

//
Again, for ease of reference:

Rule 3.E.1:
" ... On all sides, all drivers’ helmeted heads must be at least two inches inside the area enclosed by the cage.  ..."
//

As written, the rule is nonsensical, because in this context,
1. "area" is simply the wrong word for a 3-dimensional "thing", and
2. "enclosed by" has given several  (including me, until I saw the illustration and asked questions previously) the impression that the cage surrounds the 'permissible space', and that the helmet needed to be 2" from the _cage_ also, so you didn't bump your helmet on the cage.

And the question continues to be raised, despite the illustration.
So if someone is just going to read the articles, and _not_ look at the pictures, why do they keep them behind the counter? Oh, sorry, wrong publication...

Because:
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