permanent GPS track recording

James, you want something called an AVL or automatic vehicle locator (location), known to truckers as tattlers. They use cellular or satellite networks to constantly log gps location and speed data back to some central monitoring location.

You can get similar apps for android / iphone but they're not as reliable as a tattler

Here's a cheapy on a popular online auction site. wire it into your battery, plug in the antennas and a cheap GSM sim card and you're all set.