pic: 8WD 'Suspension' Chassis Concept

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by hipsterjr

BE VERY CAREFULL! 342 tried a 8 wheel drive system with 4 independent drive pods. We faught with this drive system '05 and '06. On paper it was ingenious, but we had a lot of problems turning and machanical break downs,.....We went back to the kiss method with great results.

Both of these designs look really cool.
Although, I think the reason you had such great difficulty is that this design creates a huge amount of "scrubbing" force when trying to turn. This extra friction is excellent when going straight, but adds a LOT of extra stress on the drive train once you start turning. Just to demonstrate my point: A dropped center wheel system, whether 2, 4 or 6 wheel drive, overcomes this because it shortens the wheelbase while maintaining a wide track. You get a much greater moment of inertia to overcome the "scrubbing" forces with that type of drive train.