Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

The recent Sunlive piece on the Burt Munro Challenge, rekindled memories of our trip to the deep south of the country, a few months ago.

One of the reasons for the journey south, was to learn more about the legendary Burt Munro, who encapsulated the Kiwi bloke with a piece of number eight wire, who could do or fix anything.

Straight from the annals of stranger than fiction, Munro took his old Indian motorcycle to the Utah salt flats, to set a world speed record that stands to this day.

Burt was born in Edenvale, some 30km from Invercargill, in 1899. He brought his Indian Scout motorcycle, brand-new in 1920, being just the 627th Scout to leave the American Indian Motorcycle factory production line.

The bike had an original top speed of just 55 mph, which didn't satisfy Burt, so in 1926 he began to modify his beloved Indian.

Lack of money saw Burt often make his own parts and tools. He would cast parts in old tins and make his own barrels, pistons and flywheels. He turned the original 600cc engine into a 950cc flying machine.

A visit to Oreti beach was on the agenda in the 2022 visit south, as it was here, that Burt Munro fine-tuned his beloved motorcycle at high speed. During 1940 he flew at 120.8 mph (miles per hour) to set a new New Zealand motorcycle speed record.

Driven by an insatiable desire to set motorcycle speed records, Burt first journeyed to the Bonneville, Utah, Salt Flats in the USA, in 1962. It was here that he coaxed his flying machine to 178.97 mph which was a new world speed record for motorcycles less than 1000cc.

In 1967, Burt again traveled to Bonneville with his further modified, 47 year-old Indian Scout, to break the record with 183.58 mph, with an unofficial top speed of 205.67 mph.

History has been kind to Burt Munro. In 2005, "The World's Fastest Indian" in which (Sir) Anthony Hopkins played Burt, immortalized the Kiwi legend on the silver screen.

In 2006, Burt Munro received the highest honour to be bestowed on a motorcycle racer with his posthumous induction into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

The grassroots motorcycling fraternity in our country, honour and remember the Kiwi number-eight wire hero, with the Burt Munro Challenge.

Staged this year, from the 8th - 12th February 2023, the Burt Munro event consists of a number of motorcycle events including Indian Motorcycle Beach Racing on Oreti Beach.

During the Burt Munro Challenge, many of the motorcycling faithful will make a pilgrimage to an Invercargill Hardware store.

Suffering ill-health, and wanting his prized motorcycle to remain in Southland, Burt, transferred the ownership of the priceless machine to friend Norman Hayes. Today, the Burt Munro 1920 Indian Scout sits proudly on display, where Burt himself left it, within the premises of EA Hayes & Son in Invercargill.

Fifty-six years after Burt Munro literally flew at 200 miles per hour (320 kph), he will be remembered and his outstanding feats celebrated, at the largest Motorcycle Rally held in the Southern Hemisphere.