[Travis Covington]

Team 60/Glenn had the directly driven cantilevered wheel way back in 2000 (in 99 they actually ran belts!). The cantilevered/directly driven idea is what I have always felt was the heart of the system, and what made it unique, elegant and ahead of its time.

The 6wd iteration used in 2004 was just the expected evolution of an already proven and well developed concept.


And as far as complexity is concerned, you are correct to a point. There can be much simpler ways of doing this same concept, but the way it is done now eliminates a lot of parts, increases reliability, eases in maintainability and has far fewer frictional losses than doing it pretty much any other way. Since we do have the resources to manufacture these parts, these other benefits I just mentioned create an advantage (in our eyes) over alternative methods and "simpler" designs.