Daltore, I believe your theory is correct, however the design team wanted to test this configuration (2 motors, 8 drive wheels and 2 passive front wheels) with that in mind. The results were surprisingly good. Our first try the week before was using 4 wheels in 4WD configuration and it didn't seem to have nearly the grip, speed or maneuverability that this prototype has.
In the three years that I have been a parent/mentor with the team, this is the first time we have been able to run prototypes this early in the build and it seems to be paying off well!
As a side note, Scott who owns Sonic Tools has been gracious enough to convince his landlord to donate unrented space in this warehouse for the teams to have a practice field, as well as funding the materials for construction himself. This field is open to any teams that can make it to the site just outside of Richmond, VA. Saturdays usually have a couple of teams, but you can contact Scott for other possible times. His website is
http://www.soniclp.com/home.html Thanks Scott!!
