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Re: The Game Floor
Based on simple physics principals the friction force is independant of the area.
In reality it may and will be quite different.
If the surface has a slight texture to it there may be an advantage to fiewer wheels. The wheels look like last years kit wheels which have a soft surface compound. With sufficient weight on the wheel the compound will conform to any irregularities in the surface giving you additional traction.
The real question is how much weight is needed per wheel to obtain the optimal compound deformation and the most traction.
If you have a skid steer 4 or 6 wheel drive system you need to generate enough force to slide wheels sideways. Skid steer systems in general do work well on ice becuuse you are limiting your self to kinetic friction which is very low.
Think of a car on ice. As long as you accelerate and turn slowly you remain in control because static friction dominates.
If you slam on your breaks, accelereate fast or turn to quickly all you have is kinetic friction, newtons first law takes over and inertia is the driver.
This surface does seem to give a decided advantage the the established teams with four wheel drive systems that steer each wheel. These are complex drive systems that require a lot of programming and are difficlult to design and debug in 6 weeks.
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