Part 1: Altronics' new  PerformAire Eclipse makes it easier

Words and photos by Jok Nicholson

The PerformAire Eclipse from Altronics is small in size but loaded with features. The model we purchased has the O2 sensor and is set up to monitor wind speeds when you want to use it. It took a few hours to get the battery charged to 100% initially but it holds a charge for a long time.

I was looking for a way to make my racing program a little better (trust me, it needs some improvement) and I felt getting a better grip on weather conditions would be the right place to start. When I attended several Lucas Oil Drag Race Series events earlier this year I noticed a lot of racers really watching their weather stations. I think it is critical on events where you may get only one time run or at events where time trials and eliminations are on different days.

At local races I always felt the air didn’t change enough to make much difference. That is a pretty bold statement from someone who hadn’t used a weather station in about 10 years but it is also…wrong. I didn’t get to use the new PerformAire Eclipse from Altronics air-quality computer very much in Florida. Between rainouts, rain delays and my ability to never win second round it spent most of its time in the trailer. If I would have had some data entered into it from prior races it would have been a GREAT TOOL for Florida as I could have had some baselines to work with, but that wasn’t the case.

We just got our race season started last week at my local track so I was tracking the weather conditions every run and using the “Predict” feature on the PerformAire Eclipse. It was fast to stabilize itself to assure accurate readings and the information will be valuable as we race a little more often.

The air quality was excellent in the morning, got a little worse until about 2:30 and then got better until about 7 p.m. when the water grains starting increasing and the Prediction was for slower ETs.

This shows the MENU, at least one of the three screens that involve the features of this piece of equipment. If you want accuracy and features that will allow this air quality computer to help you in bracket racing and Super Class index racing then get used to the features. They caught me off guard initially but now I have learned how to use them to my benefit.

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