Why a race timer?
In drag racing, what the engine should be doing depends heavily on how far into the pass you are. The first second off the line needs gentle boost and timing to keep the tires hooked. By the far end you want everything. The race timer produces a channel called Race Time, in seconds to the millisecond, and tables can use it as an axis. That's the foundation for time-based boost and timing. It works just as well for circuit or other uses, like timing a stint.
How the timer behaves
- At ECU power-up the timer is stopped and reads 0.
- It watches the start conditions. When they're true, it starts counting.
- If you've enabled pause conditions, it holds its value while they're true and carries on when they're not.
- When the reset conditions are true, it stops and goes back to 0.
If start and reset are both true at once, reset wins and the timer stays at 0. A reading of 0 always means the timer is stopped, which is handy in logs.
Building the start conditions
Set Number of Operations to how many checks you need. Any you don't use are greyed out. Each operation has three parts:
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Channel | Click Select to search for any ECU channel, such as a switch input or vehicle speed |
| Comparison type | How to compare: equal, not equal, greater or less than, or either of those with "or equal" |
| Comparison value | The number the channel is compared against |
Operations are joined with And or Or. When you mix them, the And pairs are worked out first and the Or after, the same way multiplication comes before addition in math. So "A And B Or C" means "(A and B) or C", not "A and (B or C)". If you need the other grouping, rearrange the operations.
Example: starting on a trans-brake release
A common setup is to start the timer when the driver releases the trans-brake button with the engine above a launch RPM. That's two operations joined with And: the button input equal to off, and engine speed greater than your chosen RPM. For reset, many racers use a low vehicle speed after the run, or a dedicated reset switch. Always check the timer in a log before trusting a time-based boost table with it.
A timer that starts early or never resets makes every time-based table wrong. Toggle your inputs with the engine off and watch Race Time in NSP before your first pass.
FAQ
What can I do with Race Time?
Use it as an axis for boost, ignition or other tables, or as a condition for other functions. It's one of the vehicle functions that makes staged drag tuning possible.
Why does my timer read 0 during a run?
The reset conditions are true, or both start and reset are true together. Look at each input in the log at the moment you expected it to start.
