Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this ridiculously long post, and any input you may offer 
This was my son's first year in cub scouts, and we had a lot of fun learning as we were building. That being said, mistakes were made and we did our best making a competitive car which looked cool.
We came in 1st among tigers and 3rd overall, so now its time to make some improvements to try to be competitive at district.
The car specs:
- rear axel channels were filled with wood filler, then drilled at 2.5° with a pro driller tool from Pinewood Pro
- DFW was drilled straight and used ~1.5° bent nail for steering/alignment (only 2" over 4') . This was not a great bend (cut a channel in a 2x4 and a few love taps with a flathead screwdriver and hammer)
- lifted front wheel used a straight nail put in at exagerated angle to get the wheel off the ground
- axles were filed to remove burs and sanded with a progression of sandpaper (600 to 3k) for polish
- wheels were lightly sanded to remove imperfections. Hubs were polished with a pipe-cleaner and graphite
- a little clear nailpolish was put around the axle holes in the wood in hope of reducing friction where the hubs can touch
- wheels and axles were pressed in by hand and used a wheel spacer gauge (pinewood pro).
- once fully assembled, graphite was applied with a needle into the space between the axles and the hubs
- COG is 1" in front of rear axels. Weights included 2x 1oz plates between the axels (i know this is far from ideal), and another 2oz of tungsten cylinders from rear axles to the back end of the car.
Planned improvements:
1. Axles: straight tracker/rail rider tool to ensure axles are straight and head is reshaped to reduce friction, then repolish with sandpaper progression.
2. Moving 1.5° bent axle to lifted front wheel and "pinning the wheel" (as i saw in a few posts here). New 1.5° bend for DFW using rail rider tool, and adjusting steering to 4" over 4' (as i saw in a few posts here).
3. **Eliminate track rub
by removing ~1/8" wood from the bottom corner between the front and rear axles (where the paint rubbed off from friction with the track(6 lane aluminum)) with a dremel.
4. Maybe... replacing the plates with some tungsten cubes placed close to the rear axles (for some extra potential -> kinetic energy)
My questions: (assuming anyone is stil reading this far into the post, lol)
1. Rail rub: is my assumption that the rub (see pic) came from extensive contact and friction with the track correct? Will removing the bottom corner/edge of the car be enough to eliminate contact with the track, or do i have to remove an 1/8" from the entire side between the wheels?
2. Do bent rear axles provide an advantage over the current angled holes? I can fill the holes and redrill straight to accommodate bent axles (now that i have the tool to bend axles which i did not have before the pack races). Will this lift the car higher significantly and eliminate the problematic rub described above?
3. Is improvement #4 (replacing plates) worth the effort?
4. Are there any other possible improvements you can suggest?
I can provide any additional pictures / angles of the car or the track that was used for our PWD, if at all helpful.
Thank you sooooo very much for your time and input.
This was my son's first year in cub scouts, and we had a lot of fun learning as we were building. That being said, mistakes were made and we did our best making a competitive car which looked cool.
The car specs:
- rear axel channels were filled with wood filler, then drilled at 2.5° with a pro driller tool from Pinewood Pro
- DFW was drilled straight and used ~1.5° bent nail for steering/alignment (only 2" over 4') . This was not a great bend (cut a channel in a 2x4 and a few love taps with a flathead screwdriver and hammer)
- lifted front wheel used a straight nail put in at exagerated angle to get the wheel off the ground
- axles were filed to remove burs and sanded with a progression of sandpaper (600 to 3k) for polish
- wheels were lightly sanded to remove imperfections. Hubs were polished with a pipe-cleaner and graphite
- a little clear nailpolish was put around the axle holes in the wood in hope of reducing friction where the hubs can touch
- wheels and axles were pressed in by hand and used a wheel spacer gauge (pinewood pro).
- once fully assembled, graphite was applied with a needle into the space between the axles and the hubs
- COG is 1" in front of rear axels. Weights included 2x 1oz plates between the axels (i know this is far from ideal), and another 2oz of tungsten cylinders from rear axles to the back end of the car.
Planned improvements:
1. Axles: straight tracker/rail rider tool to ensure axles are straight and head is reshaped to reduce friction, then repolish with sandpaper progression.
2. Moving 1.5° bent axle to lifted front wheel and "pinning the wheel" (as i saw in a few posts here). New 1.5° bend for DFW using rail rider tool, and adjusting steering to 4" over 4' (as i saw in a few posts here).
3. **Eliminate track rub
4. Maybe... replacing the plates with some tungsten cubes placed close to the rear axles (for some extra potential -> kinetic energy)
My questions: (assuming anyone is stil reading this far into the post, lol)
1. Rail rub: is my assumption that the rub (see pic) came from extensive contact and friction with the track correct? Will removing the bottom corner/edge of the car be enough to eliminate contact with the track, or do i have to remove an 1/8" from the entire side between the wheels?
2. Do bent rear axles provide an advantage over the current angled holes? I can fill the holes and redrill straight to accommodate bent axles (now that i have the tool to bend axles which i did not have before the pack races). Will this lift the car higher significantly and eliminate the problematic rub described above?
3. Is improvement #4 (replacing plates) worth the effort?
4. Are there any other possible improvements you can suggest?
I can provide any additional pictures / angles of the car or the track that was used for our PWD, if at all helpful.
Thank you sooooo very much for your time and input.
