Well I cut it out, and looking at the location of my engine/throttle bodies/exhaust I decided there was room to put smaller cross-bracing tubes in place either side. Without spending some serious time drawing up the chassis in FEA software I have no idea how much stiffer this will make my chassis, but it certainly looks like it should be stronger!
I'm planning on giving this car some serious track abuse, so the stronger the better as far as I'm concerned.
Cheers
Josh