Hey Kent-man, surely its not the scale of the tracks that matter, its the weight and speed the tracks can travel at, generally tanks whether they be 1/16 or 1/8 scale are geared down to travel at scale speeds the problem with the mattraxs design is when you retrofit to a nitro or electric truck the torque and speed the motor turns the wheels has to be translated to tracks.
If you compare the weight of the wheels and then the weight of the tracks there is a big difference, the design has to take into account the torque and power transmitted to the track drive train and the suspension setup,take for instance a savage 21, at full power the wheels expand by 3 inches, i would imagine 1/8 tracks trying to cope with that much power would destroy themselves, with 1/16 tracks they are light and very flexible which would soak up alot of the torque, as for supporting the weight the suspension system and track flexability would cope with that, in the picture of the mattraxs design you can see a long bar ,this is fitted to the underside of the axle stub to counter the turning torque of the drive train.
I have the tracks and the design with suspension designed already just waiting for the drive sprocket, i should have a testable unit ready by january which i aim to attach and run at full tilt on my savage a distruction test to be sure, if you can wait, the resuilts will give us a better idea of hopw to build them what do you think.
Rickster