The speed record that Burt achieved - and still holds - has been glossed over in the film. What is it? And why is this is anyway, are they concerned that someone will try and break the record? Or maybe it's to preserve Burt's memory.
P.S. Apart from Civilization, what else have I missed?
Froomshanker on Fri Feb 29 2008 05:16:33 wrote:
The speed record that Burt achieved - and still holds - has been glossed over in the film. What is it? And why is this is anyway, are they concerned that someone will try and break the record? Or maybe it's to preserve Burt's memory.The note at the end refers to the record for 'streamlined motorcycles under 1000 ccs'. It also refers to setting 'numerous speed records' on nine other occasions but nothing more specific than that. One ro more of the records might have something to do with the age of the machine and/or the rider. "Numerous" might be an overstatement. share
That's a good point that I had overlooked, he may have been credited with being the oldest record holder or something like that. My point is that the film never says how fast he went. What was his max. speed?
P.S. Apart from Civilization, what else have I missed?
Froomshanker on Sat Mar 1 2008 04:23:43 wrote:
My point is that the film never says how fast he went. What was his max. speed?Yes it does. 201 mph (and three decimal places). The film implies that it all happened in one appearance when in fact, he spent several years to manage it.
Oh, ok I missed that. Thanks. I assumed that he kept beating his own record with each successive year.
P.S. Apart from Civilization, what else have I missed?
i copied & pasted this from another thread asking about the record. the following is from a post by one of Burt's children who still has the official certificate:
'The record which stands is a Class Record. The Certificate reads:
"American Motorcycle Association, Inc.
Sanction No. 4745
This to certify that
Burt Munro
established a new
Motorcycle Speed Record in A.M.A. Class SA-1000 on the 26 day of August 1967 on the Bonneville Salt Flats,Utah.
183.586 MPH record achieved.
Description of record: North 184.710 South 183.463
Model type and displacement: Indian 953 cc Fuel Streamliner"'
you'll probably notice that his max speed was 184 mph. well he may have gone over 200 in previous runs, but to get an official record you have to make 2 runs, one run in one direction & another in the opposite direction. they then average the 2 speeds. this is to offset the effect of a possible tailwind. if you can't make a second pass, you cannot earn a record.
also the "Class SA-1000" means streamlined motorcycle, running fuel (alcohol, nitromethane, etc., pretty much anything except gasoline) under 1000 cc's. sure there are faster bikes in other classes but so far none have gone faster in the SA-1000 class & are not eligible to take Burt's record.
you have to remember, driving on the salt is not like driving on pavement. it's more similar to driving on a dirt road, the tires slip & the bike wanders. so it's not just about having a fast bike, it's more about having the balls to ride it to it's limit.
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I tried looking that up when the movie was new, was it really true that he set a record that still holds? It turned out that he actually still does hold a world speed record, for a very specific class of bike. If I recall correctly, he still holds the world speed record for streamlined bikes of no more than 1000cc volume, with an original series manufactured engine that may be modified to some extent, without supercharging or turbocharging or NOX, and running on standard petrol. A poster above claims that the class allowed exotic fuels - going that fast with an engine that small and without supercharging on standard petrol sounds very difficult, so I may well remember wrong here. Anyway, there are other bikes that have gone much faster, but not with a standard engine (well...) that small, without supercharging. And possibly he was running on standard petrol as well, as I said, but that is probably me remembering wrong.
It was not an Old-boys class or something, it was the real thing, so his record was not about him being the fastest old person on the track or so. But it wasn't the "all-out top fuel do whatever you want to go as fast as you can" class, so to speak, it's more of a "go as fast as you can on a home-tuned standard bike" thingy. Sort of. So his Indian wasn't the fastest bike in the world, it was the fastest in this class. Still extremely impressive! I imagine the competition would be fierce in a class like that, basically modified standard bikes.
Anyway, they hint in the movie that the bike really is too lightly built (as in "will possibly fall apart"), so he shouldn't really be allowed to race it, but that they let him race anyway because they liked his attitude. This could be part of the explanation why his record still holds - noone else may have been allowed to run a bike that small and flimsy?
Also, the movie-makers obviously wanted to break the 200 mph barrier in the movie so they lied a little about the top speed, but as the above poster said, in real life he didn't quite get there. As a metric European, I'm still impressed, because he went beyond 300 kph in a one-way run (190 mph). And going 320 kph doesn't sound much more magic than 300 kph, even if 320 kph happens to be 200 mph, so to me 300 kph is as magic as it gets. No need to reach 320 kph for me. Which makes me wonder if Burt himself ever thought of that, that he actually did break a magic speed barrier, in the metric world? Well, not in the requisite two opposing directions, but at least officially measured in one direction?
weskin on Sun May 4 2008 12:46:54 wrote:
...Also, the movie-makers obviously wanted to break the 200 mph barrier in the movie so they lied a little about the top speed, but as the above poster said, in real life he didn't quite get there.The movie-makers didn't lie about a speed being over 200 mph. Such a speed was measured on one of the timed miles. It doesn't qualify as a record because there is a requirement to travel over the same section in the opposite direction within a certain time. Burt says to Tommy that he did over 200 mph on one of his runs. Not untrue, but not a record either.
loris capirossi has gone faster with his ducati :)
sharePointless. Was the Ducati the same size displacement engine? Speed records are not just absolutes for all vehicles overall, they are specifically categorized for engine size and type. This allows the organizers to attract a much larger pool of entrants (I.E. make more money) in hundreds of categories.
Bonneville is too far out in the middle of nowhere to attract enough paying spectators just watching the big speed attempts, they need actual racers coming in all the varied subcategories to help pay the bills.
Burt Munroe is like many of the amateur racers who build vehicles specifically to attempt records in very tightly defined categories that have nothing to do with the "ultimate" land speed records, it's just about showing up and having a good time.
So the Ducati attempt (whatever the category) has nothing to do with Munro's attempt. Unless it does! I have no idea.
Froomshanker:
The speed record that Burt achieved - and still holds - has been glossed over in the film. What is it? And why is this is anyway, are they concerned that someone will try and break the record? Or maybe it's to preserve Burt's memory.I think the exact numbers and dates of Munro's speed records really are not important to this film. This is not a documentary, like you can see on Discovery Channel. It is much more a film about him as a person and about greater humanistic themes, like: living your dreams, perseverance against the odds, sometimes the rules must be bent a little, you find helpful friends if you are kind and non-judgmental, et cetera. share
There is no doubt that Burt Monro's record can be broken with modern motorcycles. I like to think that no one wants to disturb his achievment.
I am sure many of you realize just how improbable it is that what started out as a 1929 45 inch flathead Indian became the land speed record holder for that class. Munro's achievement is so remarkable, so unlikely, it bears no analogy for today. My second motorcycle back in 1968 was a 1941 Harley Davidson 45 inch flathead, much the same as what Munro started out with. 201 MPH seems impossible but he did it. You have to ask yourself, How did he oil that thing at those RPMS so it did not just melt into an iron brick???? That engine- the Indian 45, was used to power stationary machinery back in the 1940s. It was a low RPM, high torque engine. Burt Munro's achievement still has me in a state of wonder. Indian made an inline four cylinder motorcycle in the 1920s. I thought if anything that would have been the model he used. Boy, was I surprised it was the V-twin flathead 45.
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Munro really did do 205 miles per hour on this bike, however, he crashed during the run, so the run wasn't completed properly, so its not "official". The movie edits different real-life events in to one, but every detail is true.
"I've got two questions, how much and give it to me" - Homer J Simpson