World’s Fastest Indian
Took my 11 year old daughter, who is a biker in training, out to see the “World’s Fastest Indian” last night. It’s the story of Burt Munro of Invercargill, New Zealand who overcame enormous odds to achieve his lifelong goals on the Salt Flats of Bonneville beginning in 1962.
Burt was the living extreme of motorcycle enthusiast. He literally lived in his garage/shack along side his beloved Indian Scout that he bought in 1920 at the age of 21. He would continually ride, modify and set records on that bike up until his death 58 years later in 1978.
Burt Munro was born in 1899 at his parents home in Invercargill. His twin sister died at birth and Burt, said the doctor, “Won’t live till he’s two.” Fortunately for New Zealand’s motorcycle history the doctor was wrong.
The bike Munro bought carried engine no. 5OR627 and can therefore be seen to have come very early in the life of a machine which remained in production, in basically the same form until 1931. The Scout was a 37cu.in. (60Occ) 42 degree V- twin with side valves. A helical gear primary drive was contained in an oil-tight, cast alloy case and a 3-speed, hand change gearbox with foot clutch was fitted. A double down-tube cradle frame was used, rigid at the rear, and a leaf- spring provided the forks with nearly 2 inches of movement at the front. Chain drive was used in contrast to the drive systems still commonly used on English motorcycles.
Burt began modifying his bike in 1926. His methods, to say the least, were unorthodox. He used an old spoke for a micrometer and cast parts in old tins although one American report has him casting pistons in holes in the sand at the local beach! He built his own four-cam design to replace the standard two-cam system and converted to overhead valves.
He made his own barrels, flywheels, pistons, cams, followers and lubrication system. In their final form he, in effect, hand-carved his con-rods from a Caterpillar tractor axle, and hardened and tempered them to 143 tons tensile strength. He built a seventeen plate, thousand pound pressure clutch and used a triple chain drive. He experimented with streamlining and, in its final form, the bike was completely enclosed in a streamlined shell. The leaf-sprung fork was dispensed with and what appears to be a girder fork from a 1925 - 1928 Prince substituted.
All this was done through half-a-century of work and development. Originally the Scout was capable of about 55 mph. In 1926 it was raced on the Penrith Mile Dirt Track in New South Wales with sidecar attached, the passenger being Wells. The outfit lasted one lap for a speed of 46 mph. Despite this inauspicious start, Burt still held the Australian sidecar record, as-late as 1977, with a speed of 90 mph, set at Inverlock Beach, Victoria.
Burt, then a grandfather, visited the Bonneville salt flats several times from 1962 onwards. In that year he set, a then world record of 178.971 mph, with his engine out to 51 cu.in. (85Occ). In 1963 a con-rod broke while he was traveling at an estimated 195mph. In 1966 it was displacing 920cc, when Burt, unhappy with some loss in top speed, completely rebuilt it again.
In 1967, with his engine punched out to 58 cu.in. (950cc) he set a class record of 183.586 mph. To qualify in Bonneville he made a one-way run of 190.07 mph, the fastest ever officially recorded speed on an Indian!
In 1973 Burt is quoted as follows, “At the Salt in 1967 we were going like a bomb. Then she got the wobbles just over half way through the run. To slow her down I sat up. The wind tore my goggles off and the blast forced my eyeballs back into my head — couldn’t see a thing. We were so far off the black line that we missed a steel marker stake by inches. I put her down - a few scratches all round but nothing much else”. At the time Burt was traveling at close to 206 mph!
Burt little money, a bad heart conditon and the oldest technology available. His accomplishments were driven by is unflinching focus on the goal and his magnetic personality.
The movie does a great job of showing us the man and his journey, however don’t go in expecting to see a motion picture about motorcycles or you’re likely to be disappointed. Takes the better part of an hour before he actually makes it from New Zealand to Bonneville and the total “bike on the road” screen time is probably under 10 minutes.
This is an inspirational movie about a unique man and his will to pursue his passion at all costs. Burt Munro is truly a Kiwi legend.
- MTB
If you have any thoughts or opinions on this subject, send ‘em to me at bob@metricthunder.com and I’ll post ‘em.
