Way back many years ago. I heard that US military tracked vehicles had a slightly shorter track on the “passenger” side of the vehicle, so that if the driver were to get killed, that the vehicle would automaticly incline over to the right side of the road and let the convoy pass. Does anyone know anything about this, or was it all just BS.
Gotta go with BS on this one. All tanks that I am aware of, even foreign, have equal track lengths. If the driver gets killed in a tank, it’s a pretty good bet that the tank stopped moving where it was. The guy driving a tank isn’t the one with his head out of the turret. That is the commander. The driver sits down inside. Depending on what model tank, some were steered by a yoke, bars or by brakes.
Somebody was tossing some horse cookies down your throat on this one.
Having driven several tracked vehicles (list available on request) while in the Army, I can back Turbo Dog on this one.
If one side was short-tracked you’ld be fighting it the whole way and causing a great deal of wear on the pads. You’ld also have a bigger chance of breaking your track which no vehicle crewman wants to do in the motorpool let alone the field.
Plus, if short-tracked you wouldn’t just pull over to the right – you’ld pull around in a big circle if the driver died and plow right back into convoy.