I have been asked by my team to find out what TJ2 put on their wheels. We noticed an unbelievable amount of traction and we wanted to know what you are using. Thanks!
–Jordan
Team 166
Are you asking what to put on your wheels to give them less traction?? Well non brand name duct tape worked well. It slipped more than regular duct tape.
My understanding is that he wanted to know what they are using to obtain good traction. I don’t know who TJ2 is but many teams use a spikey rubber material that is called incline conveyor belting, or timing belt backing. (the two may be slightly different) Check out McMaster Carr and www.brecoflex.com as they have what I am talking about.
I got a note on our guestbook to swing by…
Here’s a picture from mid to early on in development. (Frame is welded at this point, but the wheels have not been put in there final positions.)
http://www.tj2.org/2002/imagepages/p2170713.html
As you can see, it’s just the large tires that have been shaved down to present a rougher surface.
No special milled wheels, no funky timing belts.
We only lost traction just before our motors stalled. (So they slipped rather than stall)
We only failed in moving people that,
a. used tracks that activly dug into the carpet
b. retracted their wheels and laid the frame on the carpet.
c. that catapiller drive
Thanks for noticing us, we moved alot of people. 
My favorite memory is walking thru the pit, passing by a team that we just beat, watching them trying to figure how we had just ripped the goal out of there steel pincers.
The surprising thing, not very many people asked us about our Magic Carpet. It had over an 90% success rate.