Time Trial

In many racing sports an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. In cycling, for example, a time trial (TT) can be a single track cycling event, or an individual or team time trial on the road, and either or both of the latter may form components of multi-day stage races. In contrast to other types of races, athletes race alone since they are sent out in intervals (interval starts), as opposed to a mass start.

In cross country skiing and biathlon competitions, skiers are sent out in 30 to 60 second intervals.

In rowing, time trial races, where the boats are sent out at 10 to 20 second intervals, are usually called "head races."

In many forms of motorsport, a similar format is used in qualifying to determine the starting order for the main event, though multiple attempts to set the fastest time are often allowed. In rallying, the special stages are run in a time-trial format. A similar race against the clock or time attack is often part of racing video games.

Famous quotes containing the words time and/or trial:

    We stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley’s ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I shall never forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, “I refute it thus.”
    Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

    Every political system is an accumulation of habits, customs, prejudices, and principles that have survived a long process of trial and error and of ceaseless response to changing circumstances. If the system works well on the whole, it is a lucky accident—the luckiest, indeed, that can befall a society.
    Edward C. Banfield (b. 1916)