Audaremote for Windows
If you are on Windows, there is a free standalone program called Audaremote http://sourceforge.net/projects/audaremote/
which can schedule Audacity to start and stop recording (launching Audacity if necessary), then optionally save a project file and quit Audacity unattended.
Note: audacity.exe must be in its default location of C:\Program_Files\Audacity otherwise Audaremote won't work. Audaremote only works with Audacity 1.2.x.
Hope this answers several questions
Mark