If you’ve ever wondered how to improve your speed through Turn 1 at your favorite race track, or if that $500 exhaust system made your car any quicker, there are at least a dozen devices that can help provide the answer.
Back in May 2005, we tested seven electronic gadgets that we call “performance meters”—but as we were finishing the story, two more meters appeared that we didn’t have time to evaluate. So here we are with those two and two more that are worth mentioning.
The prices, features, and capabilities of this group vary considerably—no two operate in the same way and the prices ranged from $500 to over $3000—making direct comparisons difficult. So we used each of these systems for a couple of months, mostly to try and improve our road-course performance.
All of them record vehicle data—ranging from vehicle speed to engine-oil temperature—that can be viewed and analyzed. A laptop is needed to make full use of the information so some computer literacy is required. Our brief summaries follow in alphabetical order.