Traction Questions

[Ragingmain]

At the risk of being alienated, since I am new, I will offer my empirical data for this discussion. My time as a racer, motorcycles.

Look at any funny car, drag car, drag motorcycle. They ALL have WIDE tires. Even with rubber compounds being different they all have one thing in common....WIDTH. They would not be able to get the TRACTION needed to propel their vehicles if they were not WIDE. Skinny tires would not do it. If skinny tires worked they would use them as they are cheaper and weigh less. For these type of sports, motor sports, it is all about power to weight ratio. The problem is how to get all that power to as large as surface area, TRACTION, as possible to get down the track the fastest. The same applies for tractor pulls or 4wd trucks. You don't see the skinny tires of a tractor on the back for a reason. It is reasonable to say the sport of robotics, in this case, is no different. We have a fixed weight and yes the force per tire goes down with more tires but that is also dependent on how the weight is distributed.

Of course turning is a different issue all together.

Flame on.