With
all of the available modifications out there for our cars, it is often
a tough decision as to which one will give you the most performance
for your money. No one wants to spend their money on parts that
don't offer at least a little bit of increased performance, but how
do you know if you gained anything with your latest modification?
Some will swear that their car feels faster after a modification
but when they take it to a track, their results were no better than
before. Dyno testing can get expensive and for many a trip to
the drag strip can take hours only to sit in the staging lanes in
the hot sun waiting to squeeze in a couple of test runs before the
long trip home. To help remedy this there are a few consumer
electronic products designed to inexpensively calculate your car's
performance and horsepower by using complex mathematical calculations.
These have proven to be very accurate and are handy when trying
to determine the difference in your car's performance before and after
adding a modification or making changes in your car's tuning. The
latest such product is called the Tazzo
Motorsports Vehicle Performance Computer.
Tazzo
Motorsports has taken what has already been proven to work well and
then greatly improved upon it with their Vehicle Performance Computer
(VPC). It is a compact electronic device smaller than a deck
of cards that plugs into your vehicle's cigarette lighter and mounts
virtually anywhere. When used during a test run, it can calculate
your car's horsepower, 0-60mph time, 1/4 mile time, 1/8 mile time,
60ft acceleration time and ContinuousMax/g test and even an accurate
60-0 braking test. It is basically a test track in a compact
and portable box.
What makes this product unique is that it is the only unit on the
market to provide true dual axis accelerometer measurements at an
enthusiast price point. This means that the Tazzo VPC does not
have to be manually leveled and that a vehicle's performance can be
measured independently of slight grades or variations in a road's
surface. It also means superior accuracy on 60 foot times through
proprietary suspension squat modeling. Let's face it, it is hard to
find a stretch of empty road that can be proven to be as level as
an actual track. This feature compensates for that and ensures
accurate test results regardless if the test surface is level.
Even though the Tazzo VPC is highly accurate
out-of-the-box, it also has a custom calibration feature to benefit
those who want to sync their vehicle's suspension characteristics
to match their local track results. The calibration feature
is implemented by using track time slips and the Tazzo VPC output
from the corresponding runs. The user then enters a set of calibration
parameters that are stored in the Tazzo VPC. These parameters
allow subsequent 60 ft times, ETs, and trap speeds to match your local
track results.
The Tazzo VPC features a windowed Horsepower
test. A windowed test allows the user to only measure horsepower
between two specified speeds, or in other words, between two specific
rpm/powerband points in a specific gear. The problem with non-windowed
tests is that they cannot distinguish between an engine's true power
output and the false signal generated on hard shift spikes.
If you've ever used a non-windowed horsepower test you know that it's
very difficult to get repeatable numbers and consequently very difficult
to pick up small changes in horsepower. Not only does the Tazzo VPC
give you peak horsepower, but it provides the average horsepower across
your powerband as well as elapsed time. A side benefit of the
elapsed time feature is that you can define any custom speed test
you want. 0 to 30, 40 to 70, 0 to 99, etc. Some modifications only
provide gains through certain parts of the powerband. This feature
will help you find where the gains are.
In addition to all of this, the Tazzo VPC has
one particular feature that is designed with safety in mind; an audible
alert to let you know when the VPC has completed its calculations
at the end of a test. Without this, you would have to watch
the unit at the end of a test run to see when it is finished. With
the audible alert you keep your eyes (and concentration) on the track.
The unit comes with operating instructions
and power cable to plug into your car's cigarette lighter. Even
though you can mount the VPC nearly anywhere, we recommend the optional
windshield mount to avoid resonance from reaching the unit and to
prevent it from moving during a test, resulting in inaccurate calculations.
The mount has four large suction cups and is rock solid when
attached to the windshield but can be removed easily to transfer the
unit to another vehicle. All in all, this Tazzo VPC is a very
affordable, easy to operate, and just as important, we found it to
be very fun to use. Because mathematics and physics do not lie,
it is highly accurate to the point that it is almost scary. It
is covered by a 30-day satisfaction guarantee and a full one year
warranty on parts and workmanship.
For additional details and to purchase a Tazzo
of your very own, head over to http://www.tazzo.com.
