Quote:
Originally Posted by Chexposito
More wheel's didn't give move friction. You spread out the weight across the wheels. Traction control was a way to get the theoretical maximum acceleration. we did a crab/swerve drive.
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I will counter this and say that this year, more wheels did actually return more traction. I know that physics says that Friction force = coefficent*normal force. However, this is for a perfectly ideal surface. This year, I witnessed teams with 8 wheels either in a dually 4wd configuration or in a standard 8wd configuration, have more traction than a similar 4wd or 6wd drivetrain. Our alliance partner at Peachtree utilized a dually 4wd layout with 8 total wheels, and they accelerated faster than us, with 6wd plus fans and follower wheel based traction control.
If I were to redesign a drivetrain for this year, I would do either a 4wd or 6wd layout but with dually wheels, and have dual ducted fans as well.