A rough-terrain vehicle employs separate track drives located on opposite sides of a vehicle body, like the wheels of a car. The tractor drives can revolve the track to permit track-driven travel. The drives can also halt the tracks relative to the drives and rotated the entire track drive that supports the track in which case the track drive rotates like a wheel. The latter mode provides an ability to traverse very rough surfaces. To provide high ground clearance, the support connecting the track drive to the vehicle body is located above the axis of rotation of the track drive. Almost the entire transmission mechanism for the track drive is confined to a volume enclosed by the loop of the track protecting it. The track drive supports the track on a polar array of wheels, each located along the line that divides the track into two loops.