Will you be able to have an onboard dyno in the future?

As hot rodders, muscle car enthusiasts, racers, or whatever you want to call this hobby, we have long been slaves to the dynometer. It's a familiar story. Man places performance upgrade on car. Man drives to tows car to performance shop with dyno. Man pays $100 an hour to find out if the upgrade worked and how much power he gains from it. Sound familiar?

Well perhaps in the future this won't be the case. I for one find it absurd that you need an incredibly expensive piece of machinery to measure performance. Aftermarket onboard computers and laptop software are expensive and their reliability is questionable.

16-year-old Taylor Blackwood of Germantown, Tennessee wants to change all of that. You see, he has developed preliminary technology that would allow someone to measure horsepower and torque by placing pressure sensors near the u joint of a vehicle. Their leads connect to a battery-powered signal conditioning unit and wireless transmitter located in a two-piece, weight-balanced plastic collar that bolts onto the driveshaft about halfway between the yoke and the center bearing. Extensive testing of this device over a two year period has resulted in sensors that are tough enough to withstand high torque situations. He's even been granted a provisional patent on the device.

Initial tests show that the sensors are very close in measurement to a classic dyno. The system requires that the tires hook up with no wheelspin to give accurate numbers. However, a slow start in second gear would provide great results. All of this without threatening to alert the law, which I must say isn't a fun proposition.

All of this sounds great, but there is still much development needed for this to be a realistic business idea. Sorting out the electronics to record data is tricky. The user interface is still under development, but the idea is to have a meter similar to what you would find in the Bugatti Veyron, albeit a much more affordable one that is accessible to you common enthusiast.

As envisioned the device would be made for specific model lines, not a universal kit. Initial offerings would be for your more popular tuner cars. On an interesting side note, Taylor is developing and testing the device on his Mustang GT.