Can't help but wonder if the rear end will hold up (at the dragstrip) with the added strain of slicks. My understanding is that the independent rear is the weak spot of the Cobras.

The Cobra is a Ford product. The GTO is from GM. The corvette doesn't have any reall problems at the strip until you increase the HP with slicks as far as breaking rear end parts goes. I doubt the GTO will either. In anycase, there should be aftermarket parts to address the issue, but you may have to purchase them from Australia initially till US parts makers can gear up production.

Try Gary Rogers Motorsport, They race Monaros with 427 motors, that should be a fair test on the rear end. :knightrider:

Race info at bathurst24.com. I can't find a site for GRM

You might do better at bathurst24hr.com, seems the other site is being reconstructed.

I was just talking with one of my workers that had a 99 SS. He said the cars rear was fine until he put slicks on the back. The rearend blew up twice in one racing season because of the slicks. Too much grip. I realize the rears for the SS and the GTO are different but the engines and trannys are similar.

SS has a 10 bolt POS. I know I rebuilt mine 3 times in 15,000 miles. I had 4.10's which added to the stress. Had Moser shafts, T/A cover, Richmond gear's. Should've just bought the **** 12 bolt and got it over with.

I am hearing good things about the IRS set up in our GTO. We'll see if it can handle 425 or so.

they are quite strong. some quick cars here have broken the half shaft unis to the wheels. the rubber dampener in front off the diff give some probs with loads of power and slicks. We can fit the earlier drive sharfts which don't have this dampener.

The lsd clutches are weak, for serious dragging you need a locker

Hey guy's, my first post here.

I have been following the GTO, along with a lot of my co-workers, Since Lutz announced he was bringing it here.

On the subject or rear end strength, if you REALLY are going to get into drag racing, I saw an Australian company on the web that has been making pretty beefy bolt in solid axle replacements for the rear suspension.

Personally I would never do that. I just am not that much into Drag racing to throw away that much of the character of the car on exchange for a bit better launch, better reliability.

On the subject of the IRS, I come from the world of Thunderbird SC's. The Thunderbird/Cougar (and later the Mark VIII) were Fords first domestic IRS cars. Our design was later adapted to fit the Fox chassis for the 99+ Cobra. I Love the way this IRS suspension rides and handles, but there are flaws. The biggest one is powerhop/Wheelhop, My big pet peeve with the SC. This also occurs in the Cobras and is a main reason why the drag racers hate the IRS. The car shakes like hell when you try to launch hard.

The reason I beleive this is happening is that the Ford IRS has a conventional lower A arm, and a stamped steel bar upper control arm, with rubber bushings everywhere. This might work OK for a front suspension (where the wheels aren't driven), but when you apply a lot of power, the wheels actually move forward torquing the bushing, then the tires slip on the pavement and slide back. then the process repeats, and you end up with the wheels bouncing forward and back with in the wheel well.

The Monaro/GTO IRS is a much different design. The lower control arms are still A shaped (actually look more like a J) but they are "hinged" more from the front. When power is applied and the wheels start to move forward they push the contrl arms forward into the unibody, rather than tweaking them sideays on the bushings. The Corvette IRS design is completely different. Other cars that ARE similar to the GTO IRS would be the Caddy Catera, CTS (look at what the CTS-V SCCA car is capable of powerwise) and SRX.

This is not to say the Monaro/GTO won't wheel hop, but it should be nowhere near as bad as the T-bird or Cobra.

On the issue of IRS durability, I hear complaint of halfshafts? The T-birds break halfshafts too. There is a Company online called Raxles who makes unlimited warrantied replacments for us. They are about $500 a set, but if you break them, they replace them. Perhaps they could be convinced to make GTO parts, if they aren't already.

With a set of Raxles the Ford IRS holds up pretty decently. We have one of our club members making I think around 500 Ft-Lbs and running 11.2 Sec 1/4 miles in a 4000+ Lb car. The SCCoA website is down right now, but if anyone is interested I can link to his 11 second run video.

We're always interested in video links! Weclome to the board Andy!