1/16" wall tubing is plenty strong enough as long as your bumpers are built correctly. The main reason elite teams use 1/8" for WCD's is because they need the strength for the bearing block slots.
973 used exclusively 1/16" 2"x1" 6061 tubing on "
Emperor Swerve" and "
Encore", which were both swerve drives back when the base was 28"x38".