Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Indian motorcycle brought out Burt Munro's original, record-setting Scout motorcycle to this year's Bonneville Speedweek, it's the 50th anniversary of Burt's record runs


https://www.facebook.com/dwrenched.george/posts/1472218466173229

On August 26, 1967, Munro set a record that still stands.

 He had an average speed for two runs of 183.586 miles per hour (later corrected to 184.087 mph). Munro, who was 68 at the time, set the record on the above 1920 Indian Scout he bought new.

Burt first visited Bonneville in 1957.

He wouldn’t return until 1962, bootstrapping his way across the Pacific as a cook on a cargo ship and flat towing the Indian behind a $90 Nash station wagon from Long Beach to Bonneville.

 That year, he pushed the streamlined Indian to a record of 179 MPH in the 850cc class, and due in no small part to the encouragement he received from fellow racers, he continued to return to Bonneville throughout the Sixties.

In 1967, the last year he would race at Bonneville, Munro had enlarged the Indian’s V-twin to 950cc and entered it in Class S-A 1,000cc.

His top speed of 191 MPH and his average speed of 183.586 MPH at that year’s Bonneville Speed Week not only set the class record, but also established Munro’s then-47-year-old bike as the fastest Indian motorcycle.

That record went on to stand until 2014 when Munro’s son John convinced the American Motorcycle Association to correct a calculation error, bumping Munro’s record to 184.087 MPH.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/04/07/as-burt-munros-worlds-fastest-indian-record-turns-50-it-remains-unbroken/

For lots of coverage of all things about Burt Munro, his garage, his trailer, bikes, etc: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Burt%20Munro

Including the series of photos that Jack Brady took in 1957 (the above is one example) 

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