THE MUNRO CONNECTION
The Burt Munro Tribute Race Bike was one of five that IORNZ (Indian Owners Register, New Zealand) members built for racing in the North Island back in the 1990s. Paddy now owns three of them.
Lee Munro (below) has been racing the Lee Munro Special for the last five years since refurbishment of the top end of the motor. One of the bike’s notable features is the engine bracing that connects the top of the cylinders to the frame, which reduces the flexing of the frame and improves the handling of the bike. The bike was also treated to a new tank and aluminium wheels at the same time. Its top speed is 103mph – not bad performance for a 750cc side-valve.
The bike started life as a 741 military model, which was stroked to 750cc. While the bike was apart, Chris Frisken suggested that it be painted as a Burt Munro Tribute bike, as Lee Munro is Burt’s great nephew. Chris already had suitable graphics, as he painted the streamliners from The World’s Fastest Indian movie.
Lee is a top local racer and does the home crowd very proud by beating most competitors in the handshift class. As well as Aussie versus Kiwi handshift racing at The Burt Munro Challenge and Ruapuna Sound of Thunder, Lee has also won quite comfortably at the New Zealand Southern Classic races in November 2017 at the Timaru Levels race track and also finished third at Ruapuna in 2018 with a Ducati Panigale in the Superbike series.
John Munro (son of Burt Munro) asked Lee if he would be interested in doing something on the 50th anniversary of Burt’s 1967 record run at 184.087mph. This was brought to the attention of the Indian Motorcycle Company, which resulted in them inviting Lee and John to the States for a speed run at Bonneville in 2017 with a new modified Scout to commemorate Burt’s historic land speed record.
The Indian team exceeded its 190mph target speed for the event, clocking 191.28mph on their first run. While Lee didn’t quite enter the magical 200mph speed club, he had already succeeded in setting a new record in the Modified Partial Streamliner/gas class prior to the anniversary event, by recording a top speed of 186.860mph at El Mirage in California.