Worlds fastest Indian,

Without even looking at that, from the small size of the fairing and low profile, and other similar bikes, and the type of engine used, it would have been somewhere in the 65-70 bhp bracket or thereabouts. Or maybe a shade more - anyone know what fuel he was using ?

So how does the calculator see it. ?

BTW, someone with his original type of Indian, with NO modifications, jokingly refers to his as the worlds slowest Indian.
Not one part the same...
 
Interesting what power Burt got from something only looking like Indian framed engine. I'd bet closer to 100 hp but trying to see if anyone has some better sense of it than a crude calculator. Anywho entertain yourselfs in this blog I've snatched a quote from.

I don't know about Burt going over 200 but I do know his record is impossible to break, technically. The record was set in 67 at 183.586 mph. in the SF(Streamline fuel) class 1000cc. We all know that Burt's motor was a Indian flathead motor converted to an overhead valve, that was pushrod operated. So technically, his motor was a pushrod motor. And his record can't be broken. You can take his record out of the book if you run SF 1000cc and averaged more than 183.586 in two runs, but you would be running in a non pushrod class. So technically, you wouldn't outrun Burt. If you built a streamlined pushrod fuel bike and went faster than 183.586 for two runs, you still wouldn't beat Burt's record because your record would go in the book in the Pushrod class. Now, Burt's bike was an A bike with a streamline shell, not legal today by any stretch of the imagination, according to the streamline rules. Not even APS. In 1990 SCTA started a Pushrod class and left Burt's record in the non pushrod class, because that is where it was set in 67. The classes set in 1990 were pushrod engine gas (PAG) and pushrod engine fuel (PAF). I think Don Vesco tried to break the record once and I know that Kent Riches had an upset (crashed) on his qualifier once at 217. Probably, the record should be left as is, or retired. Maybe it should have been moved to the Pushrod class in 1990, not sure how that works.
Anyways, just some thoughts.
Willie Buchta
Click to expand...
http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.p ... pic=8502.0
 
Rohan said:
Without even looking at that, from the small size of the fairing and low profile, and other similar bikes, and the type of engine used, it would have been somewhere in the 65-70 bhp bracket or thereabouts. Or maybe a shade more - anyone know what fuel he was using ?

So how does the calculator see it. ?

BTW, someone with his original type of Indian, with NO modifications, jokingly refers to his as the worlds slowest Indian.
Not one part the same...
Click to expand...


My guess is that he was running methanol mixture, but I cannot confirm this, I don’t think it was mentioned in the movie.
Why not gas/petrol? Bonneville is over 4,000 feet above sea level, so, there will be a shortage of oxygen to burn anything up there.

BTY; the Indian referred to is a owner modified pushrod operated OHV, not a sidevalve.
 
Bernhard said:
BTY; the Indian referred to is a owner modified pushrod operated OHV, not a sidevalve.
Click to expand...

Er Yes, Burts 'Indian' became a 1000cc ohv v- twin in a cigar streamliner.
With EVERYTHING modified or altered or strengthened.
Which could be why an owner of a same model as Burt started out with said it had NOTHING the same....
 
Blown Indian Chief .
Worlds fastest Indian,


A book around in 75 on Munro spoke of his Doctor and his heart pills , amy nitrate . One per Ea. , Man And machine ( in the gas tank ) .
Would release Oxygen into the fuel . Been looking for the name of the old book , but havnt found it yet . Published before 1975 .

Did this one have Electronic ignition , and the new fangled Sparking plugs .

Worlds fastest Indian,
 
Matt, Burt started with an Indian SCOUT, the speedy one in the pack, not a Chief = sidecar hauler....

What is that finless wonder you have a pic of there, bottom ported and all. ?

1953 version, 123 mph.
Worlds fastest Indian,
 
Rohan said:
Bernhard said:
BTY; the Indian referred to is a owner modified pushrod operated OHV, not a sidevalve.
Click to expand...

Er Yes, Burts 'Indian' became a 1000cc ohv v- twin in a cigar streamliner.
With EVERYTHING modified or altered or strengthened.
Which could be why an owner of a same model as Burt started out with said it had NOTHING the same....
Click to expand...

Since there was hardly anything left of the old bike, one wonders why he bother to call it an Indian at all, or was it his own little private joke in retaining the name :?:
 
Exact same logic and facts can be applied to the elite "Norton" races of today.
 
You can see on the 'tank' there in 1953 it clearly says Munro Special.

All the paperwork would say Indian though.
Officialdom is like that....
 
There were several books written on Burt and his bikes - note plural, he also had a velocette that he also sprinted and beach raced - and experimented on as a trial for the Indian. The 1962 MotorCycle article that showed him casting pistons on his stove at home was an eye-opener ! Although the book mentions that he found that bought pistons lasted better, when he had the the dosh to buy them.

The movie makes it sound like he only went to Bonneville once, but the books detail a number of trips he made - whittling conrods out of axle steel, on the long boat trips there and back. He also had several streamliners, one kept in the USA, so he only took the engine back home and worked on it between visits. There are now also 2 replica streamliners made for the movie, so beware anyone claiming they have Burts bike !

P.S. At one point, the Velo is shown as wearing a monster aircraft engine cylinderhead, talk about finning !!

The streamliner fairing is quite low, and well, quite streamlined, so its not going to take vast horsepower to do what it did.
Stunning that it started with a 1920 sidevalve engine though, 60 mph max.
Amazing character, and a grim determination to succeed.
 
There is a good black and white documentary from the 1970s on Burt Monroe called Offerings to The God Of Speed. I am not sure if you can find it on the net.
 
Interesting connection between Russell Wright and Burt Munro. Very strange that two record holders would come from such a small place.
Russell's record was set on the Tram Road in NZ in 1955 with a production Vincent Black Lightning. At the time it was the fastest motorcycle in the world.

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/arti ... d=10360386

Glen
 
When you read the books and articles about Burt, he was part of a very active community of bike racers and sprinters.
Some of the others seemed as enthusiastic, but Burt did Bonneville, and (eventually) went into history for it.

A lot of places had such pockets of fanatics - my fathers shop built a tubular frame for a dirt-track Vincent powered speedway car at one stage.
As a small boy I went to see this thing race - a black speck at the front of a huge cloud of dust came around the corner, with this thing in the lead and about 20 similar in hot pursuit. My father took one look, and took the frame back and welded it extra strong - he later said he had no idea thats what they did with them. !
(I have investigated, (was only recently reminded of this) and the Vincent is long gone, in case anyone was thinking. It was only ever an engine.)

Why hasn't someone tried a Vincent engine in a low streamliner, ala the Munro Special.
With supercharging, and nitro, it would have been capable of a fair old speed... ?
Although by this time the record was already a fair old speed....
 
Ah Rohan don't ya remember video of those two old farts with sheet eating grins after their big bored Vincent land speeder side car dyno'd like 180 hp? They ended with mention of doing drag runs with it in another nation like NZ and pretty smug they'd take em by surprise.

There's some studies on Burt streamliner shape and its very clever and slippery even though looks funny with big gapping vent under the wind screen it helps a lot.

Btw it hurts me to read of Burt's so routine severe injuries going for broke.
 
hobot said:
after their big bored Vincent land speeder side car dyno'd like 180 hp? .
Click to expand...

Thats the Irving Vincent, 1600cc, a month or 2 back?
50 or 60 years ago, that would have been a seriously fast streamliner.

But why didn't someone with a Vincent try it 50 or 60 years ago...

P.S. Shoulda searched before writing, of course someone has tried it.
But recently.
Record being chased is 350+ mph...
Did someone mention 3000 cc ??

http://www.vincentstreamliner.com/BlackLightning/images/Liner.jpg
 
The Irving Vincent is more along the lines of the special I have been building, tho the most recent Irving Vincent 1600 is about 80 pounds heavier but has the larger displacement. Horner Brothers are the builders and they started some years ago when they built a very successful 1300 cc racer, which they still campaign. It uses a set of Terry Prince top ends, earlier versions of the 92 mm top ends I have used. They list it as producing 135 bhp @6500 and 113 ft pounds of torque at 5500rpm.

Hobot is referring to a UK bike, the John Renwick streamliner. It uses a single 180hp Vincent engine.

Here is a very old film clip of the Russell Wright record run on the Tram Road.

http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri ... ature=mhee
 
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