I can tell you that traction control helps a lot. We just used a much less elegant version of Cuse's code - about as simple as its possible to get. I think (our driver would probably agree) that it was one of the main reasons the max ever scored on us in a match was 4 moon rocks
.
One slight twist to the standard traction control that we added was basically an override so if the driver switched speeds from -1 to 1 or 1 to -1, traction control was ignored. This allowed him to turn quickly, jackknife, etc. Without something like that, you
always maintain control, not necessarily what you want when there's a 'bot on your tail and you want to perform some fast maneuvers.
-jonathan
PIGMICE!