Like it or not, drag racing has become a sport heavily fueled by technology. While certainly a factor in heads-up racing, the tools at the disposal of today’s bracket and index racers has completely changed the game, turning what was already the most competitive form of straight-line racing into a chess game often decided by thousandths of a second on both ends of the race track.

From delay boxes to electronic throttle stops, weather stations to data acquisition systems, and even wheel speed management devices (where they’re allowed), bracket racing is as much about managing all of the tools as it is driving the race car. Now, one software programmer and racer from Australia is adding another tool to a racers’ arsenal, and while it’s usefulness is largely up to the opinion of the individual racer, it’s just another item designed to enhance the competitiveness of the racing.

Kym Oberauer has developed the Time Slip Simulator, that he calls a training tool for drag racers. The program replays a drag race based on the information supplied on a timeslip, with a completely 3D, video game-like interface with several different camera angles. Oberauer has added every feature one could need to simulate a drag race, including 660, 1,000, and 1,320-foot distances, .400 and .500 full and pro trees, margin of victory calculations, and so on. And as you’ll see in the video, he’s even programmed in the ability for the software to detect the drivers “whomping” the throttle on the top end, based on their time slip data.

While we can see racers utilizing this to revisit a race in which they’ve just given up the stripe and the round win, where this might be of particular interest is in trial-running a race in which the racer knows who their competitor is (and thus, their dial-in), to help simulate the closing speed at the stripe they’ll experience. Again, only as useful as the racer deems it, but regardless, Oberauer has created one very accurate and unique piece of software that ought to intrigue bracket racers everywhere. Even if just to remind them how they lost a race.