Use of the Chrono

Are folks using the timer and how? At first I found it hard to use but if you remember the functions of the stalk it gets easier. Three forward pushes turn the timer on (no matter the current setting ie. fuel consumption, miles to empty). Also one additional push puts it on pause and another push continues the timing. I can now work it quickly without looking down. About the only use so far for me is to time the car from cold start. I wait 20 min before I rev it above 4,000 RPM. Right amount of time for the engine oil to get to full operating temperature.

that's probably as good a use for it as anyone has found yet. Could also be good for timing your wait in the drive-thru line at the In and Out Burger, too. I've found it useless in trying to time any sort of competition event with it... but who cares, really? The other things SC does more than make up for it imho. brad

Another use for Chrono I've used it to check speedo readout vesus mile markers. Speedo was slightly optimistic ~1mph @ 80mph. 997 S is about the same, Cayenne S is 1mph pessimistic.

I've actually used it at track events when the timing loop was down. Better than nothing, and I think pretty accurate, but distracting. If you use a mark on a long straight, and get used to it, it is not too bad.

Mine has been broken from day one. I'll get it fixed one day.

I use mine for the gee-wiz factor. If you start it, then stop it and don't clear the time, it will stay lit. Looks sweet at night......hence the gee-wiz. Or is it considered more flare?

Well, wifey's water broke and I was speeding to the hospital and the SC really helped keep track of the time between contractions.

One way to convice the wife on the need for the option.

The sport chrono is a statement to the world that your time is so valuable it must be tracked. Watches may be OK for people who settle for something less than the Porsche lifestyle. You have to have a look of digusted condescension when you reply, "A clock? No. That isn't a clock. Tschh."

Okay, that has to be a unique usage throughout the world. :cheers:

No... I made it up I don't even have a serious girlfriend, I'm only 19. But one day down the road I will see if I can make this a legitimate response. - Suneet

I have found two uses for the Chrono: 1. I use it at the track to get an approximate lap time. Unfortunately I can only time one lap per session. Things get a little too busy at LRP with all the corners to attempt to reset it while lapping. 2. To get time between wifes demands that I slow down. I have found that the time between complaints is inversely proportional to the speed I am driving. Go figure......

I use it to keep track of how long it takes my GF to get ready when i pick her up.

Jayman, you can set the chrono to be on "new lap" so that when you time a lap you press the lever in twice, once to stop the current lap and once to say keep timing another lap. The first lap is displayed for 5 second, you glance at it, while the second lap has already started timing with no interruptions. This way you can time each lap. If you use it on the longest straight, like where the start finish tower is, usually you can have a glance without it affecting your attention to what you are doing. It gives you some idea how well you are doing with each lap. I don't use this much, but might try it again now that I am a little more practiced and relaxed. Not to replace my transponder, just to see how I'm doing mid session to see if I need to push it more.

It goes for that long? I use the windshield wipers as sun dials to record that type of activity......

The chrono clock is too distracting for me to use timing laps, but I found a less distracting way; use the average miles per hour function on the same stalk instead. Maury (Amazin) and I started by just getting our average speeds during track sessions. You'll also need to know the track length to compute your average lap time. Those times didn't say anything about our fastest and slowest lap times, however, just the average for the whole session. Now we know we can start the average speed function at any place on the first lap, and start it again each time we reach that spot again. We have to try to remember the fast lap times (and forget the slow lap times) because the car doesn't remember these. At VIR a lap at an average 84 mph is a lap time of 2:20.14, and a lap at an average 86 mph is a lap time of 2:16.86. Now work backwards to figure out how long one lap of VIR is. No fair peeking at the track map.

I use it on the track every time, but I have the Sport Chrono Plus, so I can get all my data after the run session. Before the run, I start the PCM for data acquisition (trip-->sport display-->start trip, at which time it tells you data acquisition begins when the stopwatch starts). I pick a spot on the track where I'm not that busy, like just past the track-out point on the longest straightaway, with a landmark that I can use as a start/stop point. I start the timer with a forward push, then immediately bump the level down once, which gets it ready for lap times. On each successive lap, I bump the lever twice (as quick as you can say "bump-bump") which marks the interim time and begins the next lap. I never look at the dial or the on-board computer display while on track, but my PCM display tells me if my current lap is faster than my referance (or my prior laps if I haven't set a referance) with the display showing green, equal to my ref with a yellow display, or behind my ref with an orange display. This means I can tell how i'm doing from the corner of my eye without having to read a dial or display. After the run, when I stop and reset the stopwatch, the PCM will ask if I want to evaluate, save or delete the data. I usually save each run group and evaluate the info in the pits. The evaluation will tell you the time of your fastest lap, and draw a bar graph of each lap aganst the referance line. If my fastest is better than previous run groups, I will save that lap as a new referance, which also tells me the distance of the lap allowing me to be sure I didn't screw-up the start/stop and time a short lap. Certainly, this is more labor intensive and potentially less accurate than a hot-lap timer, but my numbers are amazingly close to my official time from our continuous lap DE style autocrosses. What I haven't quite worked out yet is how to use it to time parking-lot type autocrosses, where you have a lap, then are sitting in line for a while, then another lap. If you stop the timer after the run, you don't get the trends, etc to evaluate. If you start a new lap for the waiting in line, then the eval graph is almost useless as every other lap is about a minute, alternating with 5-10 min "laps" with little odometer travel. What I tried last time was pausing the watch when I complete the run, then continuing just as I pull up to the starting line, then bump the stalk down once to "interim" then "next lap" the timer as I start my next run. Not great, but better. Greg

BTW, the colored lap display on the PCM continuously tracks the elapsed time vs distance travelled, so I have had runs where it will start out green, then drop to yellow and then orange when I've been held up by a slower car, then have it go back yellow after I pass him and open it up again. It gives real-time info while you're on track, and I can set my fastest lap from earlier as a reference and watch my times improve throughout the day or on subsequent visits to each track. Greg

gmars, I don't think you have to press the lever the second time very quickly. Just quick enough to get a "yes" in to the "new lap" question. It includes all the time from the end of the previous lap rather than starting from the new lap press. You might have realized this already, but just in case. The PCM would make SC much cooler, no doubt.

Agreed. I just try to spend as short of time as possible distracted by the lever press, but if you push it TOO QUICKLY it doesn't count the next lap and keeps accumulating time. Greg

You know to be really useful it should have been connected to some sort of "pucker control"..no hands involved.

Ah, I see. So then you've heard the rumors about surgeons' sphincter tone.... Greg

I have tennis elbow and use it to time 30 second stretching intervals. I wish it were hooked up to give me 0-60 times or 1/4 mile data.