Drewfus:
The roll cage gussets I used were approved by both Lee Kennedy, SCTA Car Technical Committee Chair, and Steve Davies, SCTA Car Chief Inspector. These gussets are formed and used for this specific purpose, to reinforce tube junctions. It's just my opinion, but plate gussets are not very attractive, and, no matter how much you chamfer or radius the edges, you still have a straight "blade" of material in cockpit.
One of the things I did during the build of this car was ask thousands of questions. I am fortunate that minutes from my house, there is a wealth of landspeed knowledge. This group, lead by salty veteran and grand puba Jack Underwood, along with his merry men, meet daily in a secret hideout known as "Jack's Garage". They have helped me immensely. I have called Russ Eyres numerous times to help me understand some of the grey areas in the rulebook (grey areas in the rulebook?). He was always eager to help me. I've called Mike Cook several times, and he always took the time to help a newcomer to the sport. Steve Davies has answered questions and even came to my shop to look at car to make sure I was pointed in the right direction.
After my first Bonneville experience, if I could have bought a book titled "How a Newbie Gets Started in Landspeed Racing and Wants to Build His Own Car", I would have paid a thousand dollars for it. Not only would it have saved me hundreds of hours in time, it would have saved me that much in scrap material!
John