Originally Posted by
heretic
What saddens me a bit is to think that several people with actual engineering degrees will read this thread and not even take five minutes to weigh in
They have time and time again.
Easiest way for you to see the difference yourself is to remove the pinion of a belt car and shaft drive car and spin the wheels.
Better still you could put both cars on a ramp to start them rolling and see how far both cars free roll on a level surface.