Pinewood Derby speed tips

Have you had your Pinewood Derby yet? Maybe your district race is coming up?

You don't want to leave out these steps:

Make sure the axles are absolutely smooth and shiny.
Use a cordless drill, drill press or dremel tool to polish them. Start with a file to remove the large burs, move on to 400 grit wet/dry and move all the way up to 2000 grit wet/dry...you won't believe it. These things will shine like a mirror.

Once you have the axles ready to go, move on to the wheels.
Again, using your drill/dremel, remove burs on outer surface of the wheel.
finish with 1000 grit wet/dry on the outer surface.
Cone the hub, polish with sandpaper and graphite...big friction loss here
Polish the inner edge of the wheel and graphite.
Finally, find a pipe/tobacco shop and get a real pipe cleaner and some whitening toothpaste and go to work on the inner core of the wheel. This will eliminate any burs and imperfections inside the wheel that may come in contact with the axle you worked so long on.

Scouting in the Sticks