So I have had my D300 a few days and decided to test the speed.

I added the MB-D10 battery pack with Sanyo eneloop NiMH AA-size
batteries which should have given me 8 fps.  I tunred the Custom
Setting d4 to 7 fps and started to test.  It was fast as hell but I
dont know where to look to see how fast it was really going.  Its not
in the camera display anywhere and no metadata seems to show this info
so how do you measure it ?

Also even though this makes sense, in A mode the shutter speed slows
way down when you zoom in.  I was using an 18-200 mm lens with VR on I
also turned it off and when zoomed out to 18mm it was full speed but
as soon as I zoomed in, it slowed way down (sounded like 2 or 3 fps)
but again I dont know where to look to see the actual speed.

So 2 questions

(1) how do you measure or check the speed (fps)
(2) Why does it slow way down in A mode only when you zoom the lens in
on the subject ?

Thanks