diff --git a/testing/performance/talos/sample.config b/testing/performance/talos/sample.config
index 2d74bb23783..840b2218eee 100755
--- a/testing/performance/talos/sample.config
+++ b/testing/performance/talos/sample.config
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ env :
 #  url_mod   : (OPTIONAL) a bit of code to be evaled and added to the given url during each cycle of the test
 #  resolution: (REQUIRED) how long (in seconds) to pause between counter sampling
 #  cycles    : (REQUIRED) how many times to run the test
+#  timeout   : (OPTIONAL) how many seconds the test can run before we consider it failed and quit (default 8 hours)
 #  counters  : (REQUIRED) types of system activity to monitor during test run, can be empty 
 #            For possible values of counters argument on Windows, see
 #            http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/Library/86b5d116-6fb3-427b-af8c-9077162125fe1033.mspx?mfr=true
diff --git a/testing/performance/talos/ttest.py b/testing/performance/talos/ttest.py
index 9a9cc79c51e..110064b656b 100644
--- a/testing/performance/talos/ttest.py
+++ b/testing/performance/talos/ttest.py
@@ -130,7 +130,10 @@ def runTest(browser_config, test_config):
   for i in range(test_config['cycles']):
     # Run the test 
     browser_results = ""
-    timeout = 28800 # 8 hours
+    if 'timeout' in test_config:
+      timeout = test_config['timeout']
+    else:
+      timeout = 28800 # 8 hours
     total_time = 0
     output = ''
     url = test_config['url']