diff --git a/History.txt b/History.txt
index e2acd71..de6283f 100644
--- a/History.txt
+++ b/History.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
   * Filled in tests on click link lh 195 (diabolo)
   * Added current_url to selenium session lh 215 (Luke Amdor)
   * Added silence spec to selenium lh 238 (Martin Gamsjaeger aka snusnu)
+  * Added ability to configure the browser startup timeout for selenium lh 242 (Mike Gaffney)
 
 == 0.4.4 / 2009-04-06
 
diff --git a/lib/webrat/core/configuration.rb b/lib/webrat/core/configuration.rb
index 33d274f..bde214c 100755
--- a/lib/webrat/core/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/core/configuration.rb
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ module Webrat
 
     # Set the key that Selenium uses to determine the browser running. Default *firefox
     attr_accessor :selenium_browser_key
+    
+    # Set the timeout for waiting for the browser process to start
+    attr_accessor :selenium_browser_startup_timeout
 
     # How many redirects to the same URL should be halted as an infinite redirect
     # loop? Defaults to 10
@@ -68,6 +71,7 @@ module Webrat
       self.selenium_server_port = 4444
       self.infinite_redirect_limit = 10
       self.selenium_browser_key = '*firefox'
+      self.selenium_browser_startup_timeout = 5
     end
 
     def parse_with_nokogiri? #:nodoc:
diff --git a/lib/webrat/selenium/selenium_rc_server.rb b/lib/webrat/selenium/selenium_rc_server.rb
index 735adf6..4148b53 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/selenium/selenium_rc_server.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/selenium/selenium_rc_server.rb
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ module Webrat
       def remote_control
         return @remote_control if @remote_control
 
-        @remote_control = ::Selenium::RemoteControl::RemoteControl.new("0.0.0.0", Webrat.configuration.selenium_server_port, 5)
+        @remote_control = ::Selenium::RemoteControl::RemoteControl.new("0.0.0.0", 
+                                                                       Webrat.configuration.selenium_server_port, 
+                                                                       Webrat.configuration.selenium_browser_startup_timeout)
         @remote_control.jar_file = jar_path
 
         return @remote_control
diff --git a/spec/private/core/configuration_spec.rb b/spec/private/core/configuration_spec.rb
index 9180216..0a9d069 100755
--- a/spec/private/core/configuration_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/private/core/configuration_spec.rb
@@ -92,6 +92,15 @@ describe Webrat::Configuration do
     it 'should default selenium browser key to *firefox' do
       @config.selenium_browser_key.should == '*firefox'
     end
+    
+    it 'should default selenium browser startup timeout to 5 seconds' do
+      @config.selenium_browser_startup_timeout.should == 5
+    end
+    
+    it 'should allow overriding of the browser startup timeout' do
+      @config.selenium_browser_startup_timeout = 10
+      @config.selenium_browser_startup_timeout.should == 10
+    end
   end
 
 end