The pit had been set up and some preliminary things had to be done before going to tech. The reason was that the more professional you look, with an appearance that you have all your ducks in a row, can only be a plus for getting your machine and designated riders through tech. A motorcycle streamliner requires three tech inspectors to sign off their portion of the rule book that is applicable, two of the inspectors cover the motorcycle portion of the streamliner and there is one car inspector that covers the portion of the streamliner that is applicable to cars, such as fire suits for the rider, fire bottles, and so on. First we had to suit up Hartmut with the fire suit to see if it fit. It did. So the next step was to see if he could get in and out of the liner under his own power without assistance. Next was to see if he could meet the time requirement to exit the liner in 20 seconds being fully strapped into the six point safety harness with the canopy closed. He could do this much faster than Don. (Boy, to be young again and have some of that dexterity and speed back.) The next thing was to familiarize Hartmut with the layout of all pedals, switches, levers, buttons and pull knobs which have to be memorized to a point of being able to touch each with your eyes closed. There were four foot pedals employed in the 2004 attempt; there will only be two pedals employed in the 2005 attempt. More on that later. The pedals are: gas pedal, brake pedal, tow release pedal and clutch pedal. They are in a cluster, not more than a foot square, and not visible to the rider when strapped in. It takes a little time to visualize in your mind and be able to go from one to the other in the blink of an eye. Next are the switches: they are the master electrical switch, the ignition switch, the fuel shut off switch, the air shifter switch and the rear chain cooler switch. There are two electrical buttons and they are for the low and high speed parachute deployment system. There are two pull knobs, which activate the two ten pound fire bottles, one for the engine compartment and one for the riders cockpit. There are four levers, two of which are for the low and high speed parachutes. It is required in the rule book, if the primary parachute deployment system is electrically operated you must have a mechanical back up. The third lever is for the two way co2 valve that activates the skids movement, both up and down, the forward position of the lever allows co2 to exit the co2 bottle at 250 lbs to the upper portion of the two way skid air cylinders, pushing the skids down. The opposite takes place when the lever is moved aft, forcing the skids to the up position. Lever number four is not a requirement, but is a feature that most salt racers employ, and that is a shut off valve to the Halon 13 nozzle for the cockpit fire extinguishing system. Halon won't kill you to breath, but too much will make it very difficult to breath.

Hartmut commented to me after I told him that the scrutineers would drill him on his familiarity with the liner's whistles and bells. "Damn, There is a lot more to this than I ever imagined. You're going to have to give me awhile to absorb all of this stuff. Now what did you say that's for?" I said, "For crying out loud, there are only eighteen things to remember, Hartmut. How much time do you need?" He replied with a hand gesture. I can't believe that this gesture is universal in meaning. In Germany it must mean some sort of signal, such as, "I understand what you're saying, and I agree," or possibly it is a gesture like we use thumbs up, only he wasn't using his thumbs. Anyway, Don and Hartmut were left with the whistles and bells and in about 30 minutes they were both able to identify and locate all systems actuating devices blindfolded. Don couldn't find one of the wrist restraints that would be required at tech, so this was a problem. The "Deist" company, the manufacturer of safety equipment for race cars, had their truck near the tech area to aid racers such as ourselves, who need their help to get through tech. $40.00 dollars later we had three wrist restraints under our tent. Guess what? Don found the other restraint, Now there were four. However, my weigh in was now two twenty dollar bills lighter.