[DonRotolo]

If you still have concerns, built it, weigh it down to 150 lbs, and crash it into a (concrete) wall at full throttle from a foot or two away, repeatedly. If it doesn't fail with 100 such crashes, it'll be fine in competition.

What you are doing is causing a shock load, which quickly brings out weaknesses. You don't want to crash at high speed, but at low speed with high load (full throttle). Crashing into pool noodles is fine, don't need to bend the chassis...