Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
For those of you saying that a downforce would be legal:
I'm 99% sure that it's not legal. The wording in the rule is clear: if it increases traction, it's not legal. The idea is to increase the normal force, which increases available frictional force (not friction), which increases traction. That's increasing traction, which is illegal.
The other 1% says to ask Q&A when it comes online and see what they say.
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I've gotta' lean in this direction also. Very well put. Downward force does increase traction which would be illegal.
So while this vertical force is most likely not allowed, the arguement for horizontal forces is not as simple, unless you could argue that it's not perfectly horizontal ... a sneaky team might try to offset their swampboat's thruster to provide a small downforce.
I'm guessing that they'll refine the rules to include phrases that say that the wheels must be the locomotive force of the 'bot.