I’m not trying to save money here. Just have no idea what’s required. My cage builder is in the drag industry, he has no real experience with road racers. I’ve seen many designs with variations on this theme including NASCAR style, vertical bracing, gusseted X’s etc. No matter how you slice it in an impact both bars will be under tenstion (except real NASCAR designs) and trying to shorten the distance between the main hoop down bar and the front vertical.
The NASCAR bars change this by adding clearance, putting the door bars under compression, and forcing the verticals apart. Probably a much better design overall but I want to go down this path and fix the design problem by avoiding getting t-boned