Quote:
Originally Posted by bender
hmm gonna go out on a limb here and back up a statement i made much earlier in this thread about the trransmission layout.
If you look at the gearboxes, they are very small, and if you consider the size of a B4 type diff gear, well looking from the pics from the side its hard to see how theyve squeezed a diff, idler, and layshaft gear in there.
I think both gearboxes ONLY contain a diff and layshaft gear, which would mean the belts spin backwards to a regular belt driven 4wd.
This would then allow the motor to be rotated 180 degrees from a traditional belt driven car, so the motor would sit in place like it does on the Cat SX3 (motor shaft facing the left hand side of the car).
This way, there is no need for additional gears in the middle of the car, and it also means the motor can be used to control the car in the air much better.
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When I was looking at the pictures closely yesterday I was actually wondering the same thing. It looked like there may be no idler gear in each gearbox which means reverse rotation belts. My way of thinking states that in 2wd we need to rely on some weight transfer from motor and gearbox rotation to help get weight either on the drive wheels during acceleration or the front wheels during braking but on a 4wd we'd want no weight transfer that isn't natural since every wheel drives and brakes. Counter rotating belts would help cancel out the rotation of the wheels to a certain extent and if the motor were placed near the center of the chassis it's rotation could be used to help chassis orientation in the air.
Keep in mind this is all opinion and speculation.