Elapsed Time

Elapsed Time (ET) is the total time it takes a race car to travel from the starting line to the finish line during a motorsport event.

Think of elapsed time like using a stopwatch to measure how long it takes you to run from one end of a football field to the other. In racing, officials start the timer when a car crosses the starting line and stop it when the same car reaches the finish line. This gives you the elapsed time for that run.

Elapsed time is most important in drag racing, where cars race in straight lines over short distances. The most common distance is a quarter-mile, which equals 1,320 feet. A typical drag race might have an elapsed time between 8 and 15 seconds, depending on how powerful the car is.

It's important not to confuse elapsed time with reaction time. Reaction time measures how quickly a driver responds when the starting light turns green. Elapsed time only counts the actual travel time from start to finish, regardless of how fast the driver reacted to the starting signal.

In other types of racing like Formula 1 or NASCAR, the same concept applies but uses different names. These races measure "lap times" instead of elapsed time, showing how long it takes to complete one full lap around the track.

Drag racers use elapsed time to judge their car's performance and make improvements. A faster elapsed time means better performance. Teams often track other measurements alongside ET, like "60-foot time," which shows how quickly the car accelerates in the first 60 feet.

In bracket racing, drivers predict their elapsed time before the race begins. This prediction is called "dialing in." This system lets different types of cars compete fairly against each other, even if one car is much faster than another.