It seems to me it would be nearly impossible to design a light and efficient drivetrain with enough safety factor to handle the abuse people put into them.

It's up to the owner to drive smoothly and intelligently, understanding what each drivetrain component is supposed to do. Thread like this definitely help with that understanding.

Drive stupid, and your clutch/diff/CVjoints will be fried.

 

Actually, lack of wheelspin is more harmful. The amount of stress placed on drivline especially the bearing caps inside from hard launches will lead to failure. All of that power has to be transfered to the pavement with the variable being traction. In my case, I grenaded my diff. at the track on a 90 degree day with the launch pad was spayed with some type of adhesive. I dropped the clutch at 7,000 and KA-POW! I hadn't move an inch. All of that energy was absorbed by the diff. instead of being released by wheelspin(i.e. too much traction). A $4000.00 lesson that hopefully y'all will never have to learn.