Indian Scout | The World's Fastest Indian / Burt Munro (2005)

The World's Fastest Indian (2005) : 1920 Indian Scout Replica with Anthony Hopkins.

#shorts #indian #motorbike #anthonyhopkins #cinema

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All the years Burt was at Bonneville from 1956-1975

1956- Burt's 1st time at Bonneville, (spectator)

1957 - Burt's 2nd time at Bonneville, (spectator)

1959- Burt's 3rd time at Bonneville, ( still as a spectator), also in 1959 Burt first met the young Mickey Thompson, Mickey and Burt instantly warmed up to each other and became good friends.

Burt then decided to debut with his Indian in either 1961 or 1962, it ended up being speed week of 1962.

1962- Burt's debut year - his Indian was 853cc, twin cam ( tail was 3 finned), S-A 883cc record at 178.971 mph (average). Burt's best measured mile was well over 180 mph. Burt had qualifying and runs at 171, 175, 179 mph and 182.55 mph. Burt went full bore with his Indian for the first time at the salt in 1962. He was also named Sportsman of the year, and in total Burt did 53 miles on the salt in just 1962 alone.

1963- Burt made some big upgrades to his bike before Bonneville 1963, like converting his Indian to a 4 cam instead of the old 2 cam configuration from 1962. He also lowered the nose of the fiberglass streamIiner body for down force. Burt's Indian now has a large single, mono- tail fin instead of the triple fin from the previous year, his qualifying went well at 183.673 mph, after the qualifying run Burt was jittery with excitement, since the engine was going like a bomb in his own words and the stability issues were a thing of the past, he knew he would be breaking 200 mph really soon.

Burt's outward run was going very well at first as he was clearly exceeding his previous best speed. The salt was whizzing by so fast under the Indians nose that it wasn't even blurred anymore, it was featureless. Burt compares the salt at speed to an ironed tablecloth, because the salt is just moving so fast that features cannot be seen.

At that point he was doing at least 195 mph, when unfortunately the front connecting rod broke, ending his S-A 883cc record attempts for 1963. The AMA said Burt recorded 195.5 mph on his blowup run, though Burt averaged 184 mph in the mile, his bike was still 853cc.

1964- Burt enlarged the Indian to over 870cc, the Bonneville track was rough and terrible in 1964, doing a mere 40-50 mph Burt was taking a serious beating, he had to go low gear for a while then he put her in 2nd for another mile, slowly winding the throttle up, she started weaving as well so Burt kept sitting up to stabilize the bike while the Indian was getting faster and faster and faster, by mile 4-5 he was in top gear for awhile. Burt still managed to qualify at 184 mph, but bad weather the next day ended his chance of running record runs.

Speed week 1964 was a total wash out, only 4 days of running before bad weather ended speed week for good.

1965- a zero year for Burt, he had some low speed runs in the 160 mph range. At the end of 1965 Burt decided to run in the 61 inch class, 1000cc, instead of the 55 inch class, 901cc. Burt said himself he probably only qualified once in 1965.

1966- S-A 1000cc record at 168.66 mph(average), qualifying at 172 mph, unofficial top speed at 212 mph, Burt's Indian was 905cc. Burt was not happy with such a slow average, considering he was doing way above a disappointing and low 168 mph on his runs when the Indian was at the speed wobbles. Still he had to take it as it was another record.

1967- Burt arrived in America in late June of 1967. He went to his friend Sam Pierce’s shop in San Gabriel California to work on the Indian. Burt lengthened the Indian’s tail fin and cut a 8 inch diameter hole into the nose cone which directed air into the body through a 10 kilogram lead tunnel casted from the old weight he had attached to the front of the frame. He also created outlets towards the rear of the shell hoping the modifications would reduce the pressure wave coming off the front which he thought had prevented the tail from stabilizing the machine. Burt also hoped the extra weight would help his bike run true like an arrow.

Burt also enlarged the v-twins displacement to 953cc. S-A 1000cc record at 184.087 mph(average), best measured mile at 188 mph, qualifying at 184/190.070 mph, he upped his old record by nearly 16 mph, earning himself top record breaker of 1967 and American motorcyclist of the year. He was still a little disappointed though.

Burt knew the Indian had enough power to push it past 200 mph like it had done the year prior in 1966, but one of the problems was the salt which was unfortunately wet and heavy. He estimated on every run that there was about 110 pounds of salt caked on the bike, which was enough to slow the Indian down to well below it's potential top speed.

1968- Burt had carburetor issues, the Indian kept insisting on running rich, even with the main jet nearly closed she still wouldn't run right. Like Burt said himself he could only coax a lousy 155 mph from his machine. It was still a very interesting year though because Burt's good friend Mickey Thompson was on the salt post speed week 1968 with his 1200 horsepower 1969 Ford Mustang. Also Mickey gave Burt a ride at 11 pm one night in the Mustang. The speed was building up pretty quickly and by a half mile in and with Burt in the passenger seat she started fishtailing at over 140 mph but Mickey pulled her back, after the litttle run Burt never got in a car with Mickey ever again but he was happy to watch his friend run though.

After Burt got the Indian to where it seemed to be running like it's old self he decided to test his bike on the highway in Nevada that ran through Reno which had no speed limit at the time, he got pulled over after passing a cop at well over 100 mph, when the cop asked Burt on how fast he was going Burt replied with he was doing a lousy 160 miles an hour at best. Burt also told the officer that he had already run at over 200 miles an hour and doing 160 is like a stroll in the bloody park. After that Burt gave up for 1968 because the Indian was not running good and it was pointless to run it any further on the salt.

1969-For this speed week Burt was more prepared than any other year prior, he ran a qualifying run at 191 mph and his first run again at 191 mph but on his return run the Indian started blubbering and surging again like it did the year prior in 1968, Burt kept adjusting the fuel mixture, doing 14 runs on the salt in 4 days, but unfortunately to no avail. Burt figured out it was a bad magneto in the Indian that was causing all the running issues.

In 1970 Burt decided to run a different fuel, so he switched from his traditional methanol which he always ran the Indian off of to nitromethane. Even with all the adjustments he made to run his Indian on nitro, the v-twin still burned out all his spare pistons. It was now unfortunately over for Burt who was 71 years old.

1971- Burt's 13th year at Bonneville and 10th year running his Indian, which was his last. Ran a very lousy run at 148.51 mph without the shell due to strict rules, without the shell the Indian was now seriously over geared, he did another run with the shell on going full bore for the last time ever. Burt never ran his bike there again.

New Zealand film director Roger Donaldson and his crew were also on the salt in 1971, they filmed Burt doing some runs on his Indian for the documentary about him called Offerings to the God of Speed, (1971). it's a phenomenal documentary, I highly recommend people to watch it.

1975 - Burt's 14th and final year at Bonneville, (Spectator). Though Burt did have the Indian with him, he never ran it. The AMA also said Burt could no longer officially run at Bonneville anymore.

After Bonneville 1975 Burt said his goodbyes to all his good friends before permanently sailing back to New Zealand.

In 1975 Burt sold the original and highly modified 1920 Indian chassis/ the last version of his Indians fiberglass streamline shell to his friend Sam Pierce. Burt took the original Indian engine home and gave Sam another one.

Back home Burt put the record breaking v-twin which he ran at Bonneville into his 1924 Indian chassis, that frame was only ever run in New Zealand.

In 1977 the year before Burt Munro passed away he sold his bikes to his friend Norman Haynes, Burt sold his 1936 velocette MSS 650 and of course the world famous Indian Scout which is not the actual bike Burt ran from 1962-1971 at Bonneville and set all the records on, the v-twin that sits in the frame is the original and highly modified 1920 record setting engine Burt modified but the chassis is from a 1924 Indian, that chassis Burt only ever ran in New Zealand. Both machines are on display at E Haynes and Son Hardware in Burt's hometown of Invercargill New Zealand.

So today Burt's actual 1920 Indian Scout is in two countries.

The original but highly modified 1920 chassis plus the final version of the Indians fiberglass shell, used from 1967-1971 at Bonneville are in America, (restored) and owned by the Pierce family, the v-twin they have is a different one, not the original/ record setting one.

In New Zealand, E Haynes and Son hardware has the original and built 1920 record setting v-twin which Burt modified all his life, that sits in Burt's 1924 Indian chassis( the frame which was never used in America, only in New Zealand). And they also have Burt's other bike he worked on as well, the 1936 single cylinder Velocette mss 650.

In January of 1978 Burt passed away peacefully at home, age 78.

200 people came to his funeral

Losing Burt was a massive loss to New Zealand even in America as well.

Indian motorcycles themselves were really saddened by the news of Burt's passing but they were also really proud of him.