With all the wading that we have been doing, Cynthia's hiking pants with the zip-off legs have gotten a serious case of droopy-drawers. Despite the fact that Gore is "The Brown trout fishing capital of the world" they had no pants matching the demanding specifications required. We had no doubt that Invercargill could meet the challenge.
After a successful pants acquisition mission I got to the real reason I wanted to come to Invercargill; The Worlds Fastest Indian. The creation of one Burt Monro. Burt is now dead, but the machine that fascinated the motorcycle racing community survives. E Hayes & Sons Ltd bought the Monro Special where it is on display in the middle of their hardware store, along with many other rare motorcycles. If you've never seen the movie The World's Fastest Indian then this probably won't make sense to you.
Burt Monro memorial
Burt Munro was born on the 25th March 1899 at Edendale, a country town 30kms north of Invercargill.
In 1920 Burt bought his standard model Indian Scout motorcycle for $120.00. It had a 600cc side-valve engine and acetylene lighting. The Indian Scout was advanced for its time as it had a helical gear transmission, a mechanical oil pump working on a total loss system and a top speed of 60 mph. Burt started tuning the bike for speed, initially exceeding 90mph and, with further fine tuning, he gained the New Zealand Motorcycle speed record of 120.8 mph in 1940.
After overcoming numerous problems such as connecting rod and engine big-end failures, Burt eventually made alterations to the engine, fitted an Indian Chief oil pump, increased the bore and stroke which enlarged the engine to approximately 1000cc capacity, and changed the two cam system to a four cam. He also built four different streamline shells for the Indian Scout over the years.
On his first trip to the Bonneville Flats in August 1962 he achieved a speed of 179 mph which amazed the people attending; mainly because of the age of both the bike and the owner. In August 1967 Burt claimed the World Record Class S-A 1000cc with an average speed of 183.586 mph (one way 190.07mph), this record stands to this day.
After a partial stroke in 1977 which left him with a lack of coordination, Burt sold the Munro Special to Norman and Neville Hayes as he wanted it to remain in Southland.
This was the most successful combination of man and machine and to bring a machine originally designed for a top speed of 60mph to nearly 200mph is a remarkable achievement.
Burt died on the 6th January 1978, aged 78.
On display:
Can you imagine sitting on this rickety machine at nearly 200 mph? The top of the frame is just 22 inches from the ground. For a great video clip go here.
Tomorrow we're off to Stewart Island for a 38 kilometer backpack.
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