A large area Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) with a total active
surface of 160*10 cm2 was built and tested. The surface was
segmented in two 5 cm wide strips readout on both ends with
custom, very high frequency, front end electronics. A timing
resolution s = 50-75 ps with an efficiency for Minimum Ionizing
Particles (MIPs) larger than 95% was attained over the whole
active area, in addition with a position resolution along the
strips of 1.2 cm. Despite the large active area per electronic
channel, the observed timing resolution is remarkably close to
the one previously obtained (s = 50 ps) with much smaller
chambers of about 10 cm2 area. These results open
perspectives
of extending the application of timing RPCs to large area
arrays exposed to moderate particle multiplicities, where the
low cost, good time resolution, insensitivity to the magnetic
field and compact mechanics may be attractive when compared
with the standard scintillator-based Time-of-Flight (TOF)
technology.