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When I started to go out for Track Days, I was going out for a good time. I wanted to go fast and hang it out a bit. But by my 4^th Trackday, I started to understand that while going fast is fun, it is hard to judge how fast you are going. Lap times add to the understanding of how fast you are really going.

So I had the wife try to record a few laps, but it was kind of difficult for her to take photos and run the stopwatch. So something had to improve, and that was buying another toy.

My new toy is the… Ultra-Lap XT Racing Lap Timer

There are two lap timers available for motorcycles at this time. The first being the AIM MyChron Light TG Lap Timer. A quick scan of the internet message boards does not hold the AIM unit in high regards. The MyChron unit is a few years old and has some complaints that the product durability and usability was not all that great.

So I bought the more “Recommended” XT Racing, Ultra-Lap timer. I called up European Motorcycle Accessories in California and ordered a kit that included the Ultra-Lap timer with 6 foot cable and a “Beacon” to activate the lap timer. A few days later I got this cool toy in my hot hands.

When I ordered the Ultra-Lap timer, the non-high tech look had at first turned me off to the unit. The body was made out of aluminum with a light blue anodizing. The body looked silly and bulky without any cool lines or molded in text. The display is simple with 4 buttons in an “Atari” membrane keyboard pad. Simple squares and triangles adorned the outside case. In general everything just looked not cool and had that 70’s old school image to it.

Opening up my box of electronic joy, I found an unassuming blue display unit with a cable connecting it to a blue box. Picking it up, I could see how nice this display was made and put together. We are all used to plastic things holding our electronics, but the Ultra-Lap timer came in an Aluminum case. The “Eye” of the unit was also in an aluminum case and the cable looked strong and watertight. The photos online look low tech, but the actual unit just gives off the impression of high quality. But this was a case where form followed function. The Aluminum case just screamed crash worthiness.

The controls and user interface was a joy as well. I could easily get to menus and everything made sense the first time I used it. No complicated menus that used weird text. Just select what you want from the menu and enter the data as you need. With almost 2000 laps that can be timed, a whole season can be stored in the unit.

Not everything is great about the interface. Entering text is a bit of a pain, and you spend a lot of time just scrolling though letters. It is very difficult to make 4 buttons input text, so I don’t fault it at all. It would be nice to interface with a PC to make adjustments, but I think that is me just being a geek and not realistic on this device.

Also in the box was a “Beacon” which I have NOT USED. I bought the system with a “Beacon” for the time I go out and there is not another “Beacon” available to use. It is silly to have the lap timer and then not be able to count laps because of a lack of a beacon on the track. At $30 more for this extra piece, I just could not pass it up.

The Beacon does not carry the same high quality feeling, but should do. The case is the Ultra-modern clear plastic in a dark blue. Sure it is great to see the PCB, but I can’t read the raised text on the unit. When I go out to use this “Beacon” I am going to care more about setting it up right the first time, then seeing the cool PCB at 100+mph.

But the Beacon does have a tripod mount and runs off of 4-AA batteries. In addition the unit can be attached to a 12volt power source and run off an external battery. When a higher power external source is attached, the Beacon goes into a high-powered mode and can broadcast over 60feet.

So I installed my Ultra-Lap timer on the bike. I am lucky as the last guy who owned my bike had a place already setup to hold my lap timer. If I did not, I would have picked up a holder from laptimerholders.com (Who also has good prices on Lap timers as well). While I could have used the 20” cable, the 6foot cable gives me more options on where to mount the sensor. My bike has some Velcro on the air-intake vents on the faring and the sensor sits their nicely. But I have seen people mount the sensor on the tail section or up on the front of the faring.

I have used the lap time for two track days and I am really happy with it. The unit just works and does what it says it does. When you go out on your session and pass the first beacon the unit wakes up and starts counting. That is just darn cool, and means I don’t need to think about my lap timer at all. When you are thinking of riding and getting out and bunch of other things, the lap timer is easily forgotten. The unit has a large display that I keep hidden under a strip of blue painters tape. I don’t want to see my lap times so I don’t start pushing myself to go faster. I have ridden one session with it uncovered and it is clear and easy to read. The Red/Green light telling you if you are faster or slower than you last lap is nice, but I don’t think it’s all that useful.

Getting back into the pits, going though the data is really easy. You get a summary of the fastest, slowest and average lap times. You can scroll though the laps easily and see everything without having to think much. When you go out on your next set of laps, the unit knows you are in a different “Session” and does mix your lap times up with past lap times. You can even put in the track name so you can go back from a previous time and see how you did. The unit records you lap time, date, time and even temperature. All of this sounds a bit silly, but once you have it, you are glad they have included it.

The funny part is how sensitive this unit is. My race bike is parked in my garage and I leave the lap timer installed. When I go out to get something and open the garage or turn on the florescent light the timer will turn on. It seems like a silly thing, but the unit is very sensitive. The easy solution is to put a piece of painters blue tape over the sensor to block the light.