Cage question

The early (348, 355) challenge cars had bolt-in cages because they were street cars with challenge kits added to them. I'm almost certain that all the later (360, 430) cars had welded cages.

 

My guess is that the roll cage in the 360/430 are steel and the body of the car is aluminum. That and as I remember my roll cage was pretty much welded together. There were maybe 2 or 3 main parts to it? with those welded sections then bolted together.

 

360's had bolt in cages

 

All the challenge cars thus far have had bolt in cages including the 430 (not sure about the 458). They're not legal in a variety of race series because of that, since many regulations require welded cages. FIA GT2 cars have welded cages that include bars that go through the engine compartment. Not sure about the Euro GT3 cars.

If I had to guess, I'd say its about Ferrari doing something inexpensively and charging customers a lot for it. 430's actually have two types of roll cages depending on whether you want to run with one or two people. You can only run with an instructor at a FNA challenge event with the "2 seat" roll cage. If you have a "1 seat" roll cage and want the other one, its 18K EUR for the official roll cage. If you look at pictures of challenge cars from races, you'll see some of them have a "2" on the passenger door mirror - this means the car has a 2 seat cage.

 

Steel cannot be welded to Aluminum.

 

Challenge cars had "safety" cages mainly to help protect the driver from the minor track skirmishes in what was supposed to a "gentlemans" racing series. They weren't intended to be a structural part of the car. IIRC the 430s got a little more serious on the cage being part of the structure.

 

I dont think that's correct as the conversion manual for the 355 Challenge is specific that the cage meets the FIA spec of that date. I have confirmed this with SCCA who have issued me with a waiver based on this and the OMP material spec.

 

FWIW (and admittedly, that may not be too much), I have a certificate with a similar FIA assertion for the cage in my 348 CH. I haven't read it in years, but the next time I see my car (sometime over the Summer when I next run it) I'll examine it more closely.
As for welded v. bolt-in cages, while I'm inclined to accept the conventional wisdom about the former being much-preferred, that's based on the assumption that the welds are good, which often isn't the case.

 

They may have had to meet FIA spec of that date, whatever that was, type of tubing used or dia., architecture of cage etc. But it was not a structural cage and therefore part of the chassis and welded to it. My 355 cage is bolted together and bolted to the chassis. It is also fairly easy to see that it isn't going to strengthen the car by the way it is bolted to the floor, ie; it's location points. It will however help protect a driver in a roll over or give protection in a collision with another car.