The amazing story of Kiwi motorcycling legend, backyard engineering genius and land speed record holder Burt Munro. Munro was the archetypal eccentric, ‘number-eight-wire’ Kiwi inventor. He took an original Indian motorbike bought brand new in 1920 for $50 and modified it in his Christchurch shed so that it was capable of extreme speeds.

After running out of challenges at home and already aged in his sixties, in 1967 Burt took his 'Munro Special' to the famous Bonneville salt flats in Utah where he became a legend who is remembered to this day (he was clocked on several occasions at over 200mph). From small town Invercargill in the 1920s to heroic deeds in the USA, Munro was still inventing (and planning another ‘assault on the salt’) up until his death in 1978.

This is very much a true-life ‘little guy beats the odds’ story; Munro still holds several records in the US – as a mark of respect the category he raced in was ‘frozen’ for all time. Brave, funny, gritty and brilliant, he was quite literally one of the original speed freaks, whose exploits have now inspired the hit movie The World's Fastest Indian starring Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Salt; Dispossession; Redemption; Farming; Shooting; Escape; Love; Racing; On the Road; The Home Front; Freedom; Salt 2; New Friends; Fish; Skin; West; Salt 3; Onwards and Upwards; Fear; Blubber and Surge; Pop

Author Biography

Tim Hanna is a former advertising copy writer, he has also written for television and is a motorcycle enthusiast in his own right. He has personal connections to director Roger Donaldson.