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Are there any benefits for using two mousetraps instead of one? If two is better, should they be oriented side to side or vertically to each other?

The benefit is increased power, the downside is increased weight. In almost all cases, I expect it's worth the extra weight.

There should (theoretically) be no situation in which one mousetrap is better than two because the added mousetrap doubles the amount of energy in play, and due to simple math, cannot double the mass of the vehicle, meaning it adds more than it detracts.

The way I (and most people in this event who's vehicles i've seen) have oriented their mousetraps would be side to side with a single drive arm attached to the hammers of both mousetraps.

Two mousetraps is causing a lot of skid, unlike last year. This is because our car is very light. Is there anything we can do for traction, so that we do not have to lose speed? What are you guys using for wheels and traction?

lavarball wrote:Two mousetraps is causing a lot of skid, unlike last year. This is because our car is very light. Is there anything we can do for traction, so that we do not have to lose speed? What are you guys using for wheels and traction?

I'm using Doc Fizzix's CD wheels and the rubber treads from a set of robot wheels that I got for Wheeled Vehicle. I've got one wheel wrapped in several layers of making tape so that the back end sits level, and that took care of my slippage. Something that you could try for more traction is lead weights or similar over the rear axels, if you've already got something on the wheels to add traction and you're still experiencing slippage.

lavarball wrote:Two mousetraps is causing a lot of skid, unlike last year. This is because our car is very light. Is there anything we can do for traction, so that we do not have to lose speed? What are you guys using for wheels and traction?

Try Banebots wheels which provide stronger grips than most types of wheels. These do increase your weight, but looking at the distribution of points, accuracy is significantly important than speed. If you can't get them in time, add weight to your vehicle to increase the frictional force.