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Unread 03-05-2012, 12:00
BrendanB BrendanB is offline
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AKA: Brendan Browne
FRC #1058 (PVC Pirates)
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Rookie Year: 2003
Location: Londonderry, NH
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Re: 6 Wheel Drive vs. 8 Wheel Drive

Very insightful discussion here!

Our team went with a 6wd, 6in, evenly spaced drivebase. Our goals included: fast/manueverable, ability to cross the bump, and high traction so we wouldn't slide on the bridge and have an edge if we needed to play defense. At first we decided to use the kit wheels, they were readily available to us, had great grip on the carper/bridge, and didn't cost us a thing. After much testing when the drivebase was complete we realized we needed a beefier setup as our kit wheels were breaking. We settled with AM plactions as our outer wheels and IFI as our center wheels. *new fan of IFI wheels*

We protoyped wheel spacing using a kitbot chassis, wooden rails, and 6in wheels. Using this setup we could easily adjust wheel spacing/height as well as the angle of our skid plates in the front.

2012 drivbase:




Looking back after the season we could have simplified our design by doubling our drop down intake with our skid plate design much like 33 and 233. Combined with an 8wd with 4in wheels so we wouldn't bottom out on the bump and we could have used a much simpler chassis.

Overall we are extremely happy with our drivebase this year!
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3467 Windham Windup 2011 - 2015
1058 PVC Pirates 2016 - xxxx