Since my name came up in the MR2 discussion . . .

My cage is minimum tubing diameter and thickness, but nowhere near the minimum constructon. It has numerous extra bracing tubes in it (underdash, 8-point including the footwell bars, extra diagonals in the rear hoop, etc.). I have removed everything that I can, legally - and I am running an aluminum cell. My car started out as an '86 sunroof car - which, as modified, weighs about 15# more than a similarly equipped '85 hardtop would. I might be able to lose another 30#, with ultra-light wheels and some other legal mods. As it is (and I weigh the "target" 180#, suited-up) the car scales at 2160#, dry and empty.

A totally minimum-caged '85 hardtop MIGHT get to the GCR weight with a 130# driver. The only problem I have is that, now, people will be tempted to skimp on safety items (better cage, fire system, etc.) in order to make weight. Would I be willing to scrap a 2-year-old, custom built, $1500 cage to drop to ITB at a higher weight? Yes - assuming the weight would still leave the car reasonably competitive (say 2475# or so). I'm not aware of anyone who is legally getting over 110 corrected WHP out of an ITA MR2 (and heaven knows, a lot of $$ has been spent on engine development). The only thing I haven't done is to spend a ton of $$ blueprinting the transaxle. Mid-engine or no, it's still >20:1 weight:HP, and that's hard to overcome in ITA - even with the adds to some others.