[maat333]

The EGR should not be working at idle or at high speed.
When the EGR is on, the small pipe from the exhaust to the valve get very hot.
When it is not working, the pipe cools down.
So it is easy to check if the EGR valve is working.
First check if it is cool, then either rev the engine or such on a hose you attack directly to the diaphram port. You should be able to make it go on and off easily.

But actually EGR is very bad for a car. It causes corrosive deposits on the back of the valve stems.
Your car's performance and endurance would be greatly increased by pulling the hose off the EGR and plugging it.

Other things you can do to improve performance include advancing the timing a lfew degrees, and narrowing the spark plug gap.
But these can cause you to fail emissions tests.