@ mr whippy
don't take this the wrong way by any means, but you dont half talk rubbish at times.
before the mitsimog was born it was the norm to see 35" simex everywhere, which the ashcroft stuff was designed for as at the time it was the only thing really getting used.
did anyone complain about the products then like they do now ?
i think you will find no they didn't.
after the mitsimog came along events evolved, cars evolved, tyres got bigger and more agressive and engines got bigger.
this pushed the rover stuff past its limits so its hardly ashcrofts products as back in the day they did the job fine....and still do ! try using box std shaft/cv combo's and see how long they last.
if you intend on running bigger hp engines, bigger tyres and want to be competative then you simply need to look at other options,
i could see that my ashcroft axles wouldnt keep up so i swapped over to yota axles and never looked back.
at the end of the day its not the product, its just how it is now with the level of competition and the high demands at events.