PAST IMPERFECT: Biking legend Burt Munro set out to test the 'real' speed of his Indian, and after years of planning, it paid off writes Bob Montgomery
FILMMAKERS HAVE a way of taking a true story and twisting the facts to create something better suited to their requirements. Those of our readers who saw the 2006 film The World's Fastest Indian will be pleased to know that the story it related was a reasonably accurate portrayal of the achievement of a quite remarkable New Zealander, Burt Munro.
Born in the far south of New Zealand's south island, he left school when he was 14 and went to work on his father's farm. Despite finding farming a suffocating experience, Munro toiled obediently beside his father for a number of years.
Then in 1915 a friend visited the farm with a new motorcycle he had just bought. Munro was mesmerised by this new machine, and soon found an excuse to borrow it.
After the first World War, his father sold the farm and Munro left to work on the great Otira Tunnel. With the money earned by this work, he bought his first motorcycle, a bright red Clyno for £50.
Around this time Munro began to race the Clyno in the many beach races held in that part of New Zealand.
It was after one of these events in 1923 that he saw a red Indian motorcycle and instantly fell in love. Before long he had paid £150 to have one of his own, one of only a handful in the country. It was a purchase that was to have unseen ramifications on the rest of his life.
Munro married and moved to Australia, selling his beloved Indian to pay the fare. There he raced successfully in speedway, but after a few years Australia experienced a down-turn in its economy, and Burt Munro and his family returned to farming in New Zealand.
Shortly afterwards he tracked down the owner of "his" Indian and arranged to buy back the bike for a £1, a sum which reflected the pretty sorry state the bike was by then in.
With Munro's mechanical ability, it didn't take long to get the Indian back into shape, and soon he was back racing on the beaches. Around this time he began to modify the Indian, now called 'The Munro Special' by the newspapers reporting these events.
Munro set a new land speed record for New Zealand of 120.8 mph, and in 1951 moved to the little town of Invercargill. Sometime about then the idea began to grow in his mind of taking his beloved Indian to the Salt Flats in Utah to see just how fast she could really go.
Unlike the film account of Munro's life, he did in fact make several trips to Utah with a friend who was riding there, before taking the Munro Special there. Before that he spent many years modifying the Indian and building a streamlined body for it.
Munro, by then a grandfather, took the Indian to Bonneville for the first time in 1962. After many adventures getting there, he was devastated when officials at first refused to let him run.
However, they changed their minds under pressure from other competitors and Munro set the first of his three world records at Bonneville at a speed of 178.971 mph.
In 1967, he set a record of 183.586 mph. While qualifying, he made a one-way run of 190.07 mph, the fastest ever officially recorded speed on an Indian.
During each of his visits to the Salt Flats he was supported by an ever-growing band of volunteer helpers.
Burt Munro, by then a legend in his native New Zealand, died in December 1978, his achievements at Bonneville testament to a remarkable man's perseverance and bravery.