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Originally Posted by cobrashoch
strictypersonl - we can debate the various engineering advantages and disavantages till the cows come home, and in the end it comes down to personal choices. I know what you are saying, and agree only partially with what you said above. For example, there are many ways to make that drive shaft longer, (mine is 24") and there are many ways to incraese and control travel in any kind of suspension setup. The guys that run Baja would love to read your thread too, and this only illistrates that the various types of orthodoxy in use out there is only limited by that orthodoxy. Yes, most Cobras are built using some sort of limiting orthodoxy, but it's fortunate for all of us there is other ways. I stand by what I said. Note; I didn't say the Jag setup was not any good, I only said it has advantages AND disadvantages and IRS setups are in most cases overkill. BYW- in some cases some rear camber in a drag car is a good thing, as they hook up and the rear end is driven down. My Cobra is a drag car.
cobrashock
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I agree, the jag IRS, having owned several E-Type has 3 main flows
1) it's heavy
2) it's complicated, difficult and expensive to service. (in-bord brakes overheat easily) It cost me $2K 20 years ago to fix a frozen parking brake on an E-Type to pass Connecticut inspection. The whole rear end had to be brought down to get to the parking break mechanism. The convertible does not have an access panel in the trunk.
4) it's suffers from too much camber change on turns and has to be set up extremely stiff for good handling on the track.
That said when set up properly, it's a great an very reliable system. For a drag car, a solid axle is a much better system for the reason stated above. Less overall weight, you can use a much beefier differential, and both tires are alway perpendicular to the ground.
Actually, when you look at Jaguar racing history, they always used solid axles even for the D type which was their most successful racing car.