I've not had a problem with the hingepin screws, and I've got fat fingers.
Its the same design as the B4 and thats been around for ages without too many lost screws....certainly less than there would have been with e-clips pinging around at 90mph
I'm sure I saw someone here selling a screwkit that changes them to cap head screws and a washer.
And nope, don't put any alloy on the car. You want things to break in an accident, not bend and stay bent (mucking up the handling). In 8 months of SC10 racing, I've broke two front arms (one hitting a marshall....ooops, and one hitting a steel girder...it jumped out at me!
) but most other people I know haven't broken a thing.