Mark IV,
I am a great fan of Colin Chapman. The more time I spend at the track the more I admire him. Lighter cars are much easier (and funner) to drive quickly. If, however, he was a fan of the upper control arm and the 1/2 shaft being the same piece, then I would strongly disagree with him.
If you look at ANY F1 car you will see an upper control arm with a plunging 1/2 shaft. The F1 boys would sell their mother for a gram. If it were more efficient they would do it.
Technology marches on. What was good yesterday may or may not be good today--probably not. Technology rests for no one. One day what I have done will probably be used as bad examples in some text book (or at least on some blog) as what not to do. That said, I do not believe Colin is dumb (or the Navy or even me for that matter). We simply get more understanding and better materials as time goes on. Who was it that said the only reason we see so far is we stand on the shoulders of giants? I only benefit from standing on Colin's (and others') shoulders.
David
