More Wheels?

[Tom I]

Originally Posted by lynca

I'm not sure that the 5th wheel will help you since you would be dividing your normal force by 5 wheels instead of 4 wheels.

Actually Im not sure if thats true... Yes you would be dividing the normal force by 5 and thus the force of friction remains the same, but friction is not the only thing that needs to be considered. Traction would increase due to more surface area, and thus it would stop quicker.

Yes a 5th wheel is legal, and yes it would probably help a little. I would recomend if this would only be for breaking, mount it perpendicular to the other wheels rather than parallel. The coefficient of friction is higher for the wheels sliding laterally than in line with the rotation, so you would get more friction and stop even quicker.