One of the more obscure but effective modifications made to British tanks involved the spacing of the roadwheels. The typical British suspension arrangement of six roadwheels per side on three suspension stations was common to Centurion, Chieftain and both Challenger 1 and 2. It's not immediately obvious though, that there is a larger gap between the front and centre stations compared with the centre and rear. This was to facilitate the practice of "half-tracking" or shortening the track to run from the sprocket around the centre and rear stations only, ie roadwheels 3-6. This practice was the response learned from the British experience of mine damage in WW2. Comet crews in particular used this in the latter stages of the campaign in Europe, where nuisance mining of routes was commonplace. The mine usually caused damage to the idler and possibly the front suspension units which immobilised the vehicle unless the track could be shortened to exclude the damaged units. By half-tracking, the mobility could be restored sufficiently to get the tank to a place of repair. To make the process easier, on the post-War tanks, the gap between the front and centre stations was increased.
This was of course not an option open to the Wehrmacht with the overlapped roadwheels of the Tigers and Panther, another reason for my comment on another post that those tanks are over-hyped and not all they're cracked up to be by modern pundits and fans. It's inexplicable to me also why neither Leo 2 or Abrams M1 make use of this feature, whereas the Russian T-80 does.
On Chieftain, the dimension between the mid-points of the front and centre suspension units is 78.812 inches, whereas that between the centre and rear is 74.688 inches. This differential is faithfully replicated on the Armortek Chieftain and was one of the features we picked up when the original was measured up. It's a good example of the attention to detail in the Armortek models, where it matters.
This is the Centurion layout:
![now_we_fix_it[1].jpg](./download/file.php?id=29088&sid=3edc262e8946f23f2d7452c6b9ddc204)
- now_we_fix_it[1].jpg (53.76 KiB) Viewed 8526 times
The Chieftain design:
and a half-tracked Chieftain.
- 79198021_10216170363316519_5330985606195445760_n.jpg (46.88 KiB) Viewed 8526 times
It wasn't a very commonplace practice in the British Army of the Rhine. I probably only witnessed it once or twice in my time on Chieftain and Challenger. The reasons are now lost on me but maybe others with experience may recall typical circumstances in which it was used. Anyway, a long-winded explanation for something which might otherwise be a puzzle.
