Time to take off record (4)
I believe the answer is:
tape
'record' is the definition.
('tape' can be a synonym of 'record')
'time to take off' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't'.
'to' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'take off' becomes 'ape' (I've seen this before**).
't'+'ape'='TAPE'
(Other definitions for tape that I've seen before include "Record; material strip" , "Bind" , "Adhesive --; red --" , "Record; cassette" , "broken by fastest runner" .)