BURT MUNRO
DRIVEN BY THE PURSUIT OF SPEED
New Zealander Burt Munro was a motorcycle land-speed record-holder of the 1960s. One of his dreams was to run his homebuilt 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle, called the Munro Special, on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. He saved for years in spite of limited means to make the trip to America. He finally came over on a shoestring budget in 1962. Munro was 63 at the time and still managed to overcome numerous obstacles to set world records. In 1967, Munro coaxed his streamlined Indian to 184.087 mph. That set a record in the category of "streamlined motorcycles under 1,000cc" and remains unbroken to this day- 50 years later. To qualify, he made a one-way run of 190.07 mph, the fastest ever officially recorded speed on an Indian.
The early years
Munro was born in Invercargill, New Zealand in 1899. He began riding motorcycles at the age of 15. His first bike was a British-built Clyno. He sold the Clyno to a blacksmith in 1920 and bought the Indian Scout, which he would continuously modify for the rest of his life.
In his mid-20s, Munro began competing in various forms of motorcycle racing in New Zealand and Australia. He rode in hillclimbs, trials, road racing, drag racing, flat track and early scrambles events.
Dedication to motorcycles
Munro quit working in the late 1940s so he could devote his time fully to improving his Indian and Velocette racing bikes. During this period, he honed his skills at designing his own parts for the bike. Munro found unique sources for raw materials. As an example, he once carved out rods for his Indian using a Ford truck axle. It took him five months, but the rods lasted over 20 years, through countless high-speed runs. He experimented with a variety of metals by trial and error, once melting downusing old gas pipes as cylinder liners. He also cast pistons for his bike using melted down pistons from other vehicles. From wheels, to engine parts, to the streamliner's shell, Munro custom made just about every part of his bikes.
Land speed record attempts
His first record was the New Zealand open road record set in 1940 at a speed of 120.8 mph. That record held for 12 years. He earned the New Zealand beach record of 132.38 mph in 1957 at the annual Canterbury Speed Trials.
By the late 1950s, Munro's bikes were getting so fast that he was running out of room to run them on New Zealand's speed courses. He considered trying to run on some of Australia’s dry lakes, but in 1957 after visiting the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, his goal became to compete on the flat and vast expanse of Bonneville's salt bed.
Over the years, Munro and his Scout raced on the Bonneville Salt Flats nine times and set world records in three of them. In 1967. By this time, his bike was such a unique amalgam of custom-made the engine often failed and required rebuilding. His focus and innovation paid off as he set an official land speed record of 184.087 mph, and posted an unofficial top speed of 205.67 mph.He made several other trips to the Bonneville Salt Flats with his final attempt in 1971.
Later years
During his life, Munro's accomplishments were little known outside a select group of motorcycle enthusiasts. With the release of "The World's Fastest Indian" in 2005, Munro suddenly became a cult hero in New Zealand. There, the movie became the biggest domestically produced film ever produced.
He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Motorcycle New Zealand Hall of Fame in 2016.