Moving away from 4 on the floor

[DerbyDash]

My son has been successful over the last two years winning the pack championship with our four on the floor design but has said he would like to see if we can go faster (of course). We have used a wedge about 1/2" thick with an hourglass shape to remove wood and allow for more tungsten. The tungsten cylinders were placed in a pocket that was routed out right above the rear wheels.Without immediately going to a rail rider, we were thinking of using a similar design but going to a 1/4" height and with the 1/4" tungsten cubes in front and behind the rear axle.

Assuming we also continue our polishing of axles / wheel bores, would the following steps be the way to make it faster?

1) Go to one raised front wheel
2) Raised front wheel and cant the rear axles
3) Raised from wheel, cant rear axles, cant front axle and rail ride

Is another another path to improving our times? We did beat a supposed rail rider in 2013 so I think we're doing well on our build without rail riding. However, we would like to have thoughts on the progression to a faster car. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Speedster]

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes

[DerbyDash]

Well, at least it seems we have learned by reading here! So it seems we have a path to a faster car. Any idea on what he time gain might be for each of these? I know there are a lot of factors affecting time but just wondering what would be the gains for each of these.

[Speedster]

I read somewhere between 2 perfect cars a 3 wheeler will beat a 4 wheeler by 3 1/2" because of the savings in Rotational Energy. We know rail riding is the way to go because it has been proven for many years. If your competition is building a car per the Laws of Physics and someone deviates from those Laws, that someone is probably going to get beat.

[whodathunkit]

Less energy to start the car rolling.. A small amount of energy to start a wheel rolling.
With three wheels on the ground the wheel inertia is reduced by 1/4 or by 25 percent.
The poorest performing wheel can be used as the lifted wheel.

Increased stability.. the biggest factor as it only takes 3 points for an object to rest on a flat surface.

With 4 on the floor... it's somewhat difficult to get all 4 wheels to evenly touch the track.
And the car usually ends up resting on 3 wheels anyway..
But when in motion the car will rock back and forth and waste energy.
By lifting one wheel the car will be more stable and beneficial.
But not as a reduction in friction.