[EricH]

Originally Posted by String

Without drop center, using Colsons, and given the dimensions of the robot you specified earlier, your robot will have an awfully hard time turning. Drop center increases the ratio of width of wheelbase to length of wheelbase, decreasing wheel scrub while turning.

Technically, you are correct in the reasons. However, you need to rethink the robot dimensions, specifically the length/width ratio (assuming 34" wide, 40" long).

They're 34" x 40". 1.17 length/width. A typical FRC robot that's difficult to turn has tended to be a 1.35 length/width ratio (28"x38"), and before that a 1.2 ratio. They'll have an easier time than most FRC robots, particularly given that the actual wheelbase will be shorter than 40", probably more like 36" which will give nearly a 1:1. If the ratio of length/width (actually, wheelbase/trackwidth) goes under 1, turning suddenly gets easier without a need for a dropped center. Ask Ether for the physics on how that works sometime, I'm a touch rusty.

There's a reason you rarely see wide-bots using drop-center--it doesn't really help their turning, and it adds to their overall "oops, I fell over again" factor.