Welcome to the forum.
I'll address the second question first... I have owned my Rush for over 2 years. Running costs are indeed that low (or close to that), IF and ONLY IF, you keep on the maintenance and make sure bolts are tight and don't do stupid stuff. I have changed tires, brake pads, chain and shock rebuilds... and that is about it from "normal" wear items. Stupid costs have been shock rebuild (mine were the original shocks and you HAD to pressurize them up nearly every other session.. I didn't do that the first time), and gear box seal (don't ask...). I drive 8.5/10, don't tend to jump curbs much, and have kept it on track. So I don't have nearly the wear and tear that a fellow owner has who DOES drive 10/10 (and sometimes over). He has had much more issues as he tries very hard to get that 0.1 second. His best drive our local track at 1.38, but I'm "only" 1.42. Others have spent quite a bit on starters, body panels, etc from pushing it too hard. Even at 8.5/10 it is still a blistering fast car.
As for safety... This is a tough topic as there is a lot of gut feelings about it. The cage is quite strong, and one of the fellow owners did roll his car and you could barely tell with a minor dent in the roll hoop. I originally had the "non-Trident" version of the car, and recently had Rush upgrade mine to the Trident as I do feel that is safer. However, defensive driving with the Rush (or even a Radical) is THE BEST approach. When racing with heavier cars, I will be extra careful when passing to make sure they see me as we are small and low. I try hard to stay out of "the vortex of danger" unless I'm SURE they saw me. That said, this is still an open cockpit car, so appropriate caution and heads-up driving is absolutely required. Even with this, it is still highly recommended to use proper headgear and not the bare minimum SA2020 that most HPDEs or race organizations require. The racers typically use FIA 8860 ABP which i believe was developed after the death of one of the Formula One drivers. These helmets are designed with smaller eye holes and significantly thicker material above the eye sockets to provide maximum protection in open cockpit cars. Only you can decide if a race car is "safe enough"....
. Guess we like our lightweight cars!
