Yo lo haría guardando en una variable el valor de la linea anterior:
Código PHP:
$last_time = 0;
WHILE ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
$num = $row['numero'];
$time = $row['tiempo'];
$result = $time - $last_time;
echo "<tr>
<td>".$num."</td>
<td>".$time."</td>
<td>".$result."</td>
</tr>";
$last_time = $time;
}