pic: Concept 8wd Drivetrain

[AndyB]

Originally Posted by Damien1247

Now, about the evidence, after reading the threads about their drive train their goal was to get the benefits of a tread without using tread, did they meet their goals? For that answer you would most definitely have to get one of them. From my perspective they achieved their goals, 1) eliminate the ability of breaking a tread if pushed sideways. 2) They had an incredibly low cg and still did not bottom out climbing obstacles. They proved that a large number of wheels gives you those benefits. They also proved that the draw back was complexity and weight. Did they gain any additional pushing force out of it? Probably not. Would they have been able to shove us around without 14 wheels? Most likely, but the fact remains that they DID gain an advantage from doing that many drive wheels.

I think John's point was that you can't tell if having the extra 8 wheels made any difference. If they were just as effective with 6 wheels, why use 8 more.

They would have had VERY similar traction, and in that game, 14 wheels could handle the ramps just as well as a 6wd could. I don't really understand your argument. If they didn't gain any pushing power, but gained weight and complexity, how is that an advantage?

The only advantages I see are played into tread not breaking (not really a big deal if attached properly, nor worth the weight), and CG (wheels aren't the only way to get your CG lowered). I would argue that you have more risk in more wheels than tread breaking risk.