Table of contents
- Scene: Burt Munro Challenge Isle of Man, just the other way around
- Burt Munro Challenge Part 2
- Burt Munro
Foitzik
to travel
Scene: Burt Munro Challenge
Scene: Burt Munro Challenge
Isle of Man, just the other way around
At the southernmost end of New Zealand, bikers have fun every year at the big amateur race in memory of Burt Munro, the most famous motorcycle fool in the country. The German Robert Foitzik drove there from his adopted home, the New Zealand capital Wellington, and joined the party.
02/04/2010
New Zealand is beautifully green, everyone knows that. However, there are good reasons for the green – it rains very often. Just like now, 100 kilometers from my destination Invercargill. In addition, there is such a strong, gusty wind from all directions that I can see myself hanging in the bushes in some bends. My buddies hit the gas and are probably in Invercargill by now. Trick, on the VFR 750 with brand new radar detectors in the cockpit – they are legal in New Zealand. With my 60 two-valve boxer horsepower, the only thing left for me to do is to comfortably ride through the rain front and to be happy that the gloves hold tight.
Why didn’t I fill up in Dunedin? Clear jerking from the engine indicates that the second fuel tap must be on reserve. And I’m in the middle of nowhere, no house in the gray-green soup around me. Second reserve tap, that means just under four liters of fuel. And Invercargill is not even within a 40-kilometer radius on the navigation system. The problem with having a motorcycle with a large tank: You just get carefree. If I don’t fill up today, I’ll fill up next week. Yes / Yes. Somehow it’s enough. And with ten degrees on Friday afternoon I chug into the center of Invercargill. An icy wind whips along the main street, motorbikes on every corner, yellow and red rain suits form a nice contrast to the gray sky. First fill up, then off to the backpacker, as they call the typical mixture of youth hostel and guesthouse here. The colleagues booked and they don’t even answer my call.
Foitzik
The beach race is one of the key scenes in the film about Burt Munro. And a highlight of the challenge. Just not in heavy storms.
Invercargill, the southernmost city in New Zealand, with its almost 60,000 inhabitants is more of a nest than a city and orientation is very easy due to the grid-like division. Chris and Neil are sitting on the covered sidewalk in front of the backpacker’s cafe, warming up when I pull up. You’re still in motorcycle clothes, so I can’t be that late. Brief discussion of how to proceed. The beach race should start in an hour. So just bring your luggage up to your room and then off you go, down to the sea. But the caravan of motorcyclists that is coming towards us does not bode well. And that’s how it is. No, sorry, due to the strong wind and rain, the organizers decided it was too dangerous to start the race.
Burt Munros legendary Indian stands on the trailer outside the registration tent in the rain and is pulled back home. It’s a shame, I was looking forward to it. The Beach Race was, after all, one of the best scenes in the wonderful film “The Worlds Fastest Indian – With heart and hand” from 2005, in which the great Anthony Hopkins plays Burt Munro so well.
The next day the race cancellation is the headline of the “Southland Times”. It also reported that a group of five motorcyclists was simply blown over by the storm on a slippery stretch of road. Whether that’s true, or whether one or two Fahr-Bier played a role, who knows? But makes the storm more dramatic.
The next day everything is different. The wind has driven the rain clouds to the north, where we will catch up with them on the way back. It’s beautiful, blue sky, sun. It’s also freezing cold, so cold that many at the racetrack put on their helmets while they watch the races. This is a very good idea, which I of course ignore. For which I am punished with murderous sunburn on my face in the evening (the sun lotion was of course stayed at home, in the bathroom, where it belongs). For a few days I’ll be glowing like the red-nosed stuffed moose that everyone has in the car at Christmas.
Burt Munro Challenge Part 2
Foitzik
The Wyndham Road Race: The circuit runs through the entire town. All classes are at the start.
But no matter, it’s worth it, the day is exciting. There are the races on the Teretonga Race Track. There are dozens of classes: besides the open one, there are also those before 1963, before 1972 and before 1989. The course is just 2.62 kilometers long, but the drivers let it rip, and you learn on the long straight where I sit quick to distinguish the professionals from the beginners. One town further there is one “Classic car show” in the gym. There are beautiful classics, all with cardboard under the engine to catch the occasional drop of oil. It is fitting that the old, battered Triumph Bonneville, which is parked outside next to my BMW, has a three-liter oil canister lashed onto the pillion seat.
Sunday, and the motorcycle caravan leaves Invercargill north to Wyndham, 30 kilometers away. The place consists of about 25 houses, has a pub and a gas station. The office of mayor is taken over by the pastor, who also stands at the bar in the evening and operates the petrol station during the day. At least something like that. However, once a year Wyndham is upside down and feels like a small edition of the Isle of Man. The entire place is a racing course with chicanes, hay bales and advertising banners. The whole day they go on the gas, on supermotos, fat four-cylinder engines or – finally – the classic style on old Indians. The guest motorcycles and drivers present exceed the number of inhabitants by a ratio of 200 to one. And in fact there is a replica of Burt’s original Indian from 1932 in the paddock. It’s just a shame that she is not allowed to ride here.
Foitzik
Great classics, not just to look at: the darlings have it all behind their pistons.
It’s early afternoon, we have to go home, because our ferry, which is supposed to take us back to the North Island, to Wellington, is leaving tomorrow at noon. And there are another 1000 kilometers between there and here. They feel good at first, with lots of sun and dry roads. But then it gets darker and cooler, and in Ashburton, 50 kilometers from Christchurch, it is only nine degrees. When a motel appears on the right that promises a hot whirlpool, the decision is easy, and the day ends in the bubbling water.
Rain on the last day, which accompanies us almost all the way to Picton, the ferry port on the tip of the South Island. We make it so straight and roll on deck half an hour before departure. As always, the machines are lashed twice and three times, but the effort is unnecessary, the sea is as smooth as glass. And while I’m dozing in a reclining chair, I make up my mind to go home again “The Worlds Fastest Indian” watch on DVD. Maybe it will work out next year and I can see the Beach Race live.
Internet: www.burtmunrochallenge.com
Burt Munro
M. Cycle Hall of Fame Museum
Burt Munro 1962, one of his speed records is still unbroken today.
The man, the movie, the party
Burt Munro is a legend in New Zealand. Played by Anthony Hopkins, he was thru 2005 “The Worlds Fastest Indian” world famous. In Germany the film had (probably because of the stupid title) “With heart and hand” small success. Burt Munro (1899-1978) worked on his 1920s Indian for 20 years in order to set a world speed record for motorcycles under 1000 cubic meters on the salt flats near Bonneville in Utah, USA. Munro took part in the Bonneville races ten times and set three world records. He set his last record at the age of 68 on a 47-year-old machine with which he reached 295 km / h.
The Burt Munro Challenge was launched in 2006 by the Southland Motorcycle Club to “Burt, his ingenuity, dedication, determination and love for speed and motorcycles” to honor. Since then, the challenge has taken place every year at the end of November in Munro’s former birthplace and hometown of Invercargill and consists of various road races, a hill climb and the beach race, which had to be canceled in 2009 due to bad weather.
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