A LITTLE NOSTALGIA
Most people remember Burt Munro for his exploits aboard the world’s fastest Indian. Len Page recalls Munro’s racing career on a truly challenging g circuit in New Zealand, where British bikes diced on dirt-track surfaces…
Most people remember Burt Munro for his exploits aboard the world’s fastest Indian. Len Page recalls Munro’s racing career on a truly challenging circuit in New Zealand, where British bikes diced on dirt-track surfaces…
Back in 1938, the New Zealand Grand Prix was run on the most extraordinary course at Cust, which is on the Canterbury plain near Christchurch in the South Island. The circuit consisted of 6.1 miles of unsurfaced roads and the race distance was 25 laps which gave 152.5 miles. The course had been used in two previous years. In 1936 it quickly became apparent that dust was a major problem, so for the next and subsequent years the track was sprayed with thousands of gallons of used sump oil, which was rolled-in to form a slightly more dust-free surface.
The 1938 race was held on the 15th of April, Easter Monday, and attracted 36 entries, including Burt Munro on his 490cc Velocette who ran with the start number of 6. At this time there were no classes, only a capacity limit of 500cc. Most of the machines were 500cc apart from one 250 Rudge, two 350 Triumphs, two 350 Velocettes, a 350 AJS and one 350 FN. The remainder of the runners read like a list of the best of British bikes and include Norton, AJS, Douglas, Royal Enfield, Ariel, OK Supreme, Rudge, Vincent, Sunbeam and Excelsior.
The start procedure for the race was based on lot numbers drawn by each rider. The machines were then parked on the lefthand side of the road and the riders took up position on the opposite side in the same manner as was used at Le Mans for many years. The starter’s gun was then fired and everyone ran across to their machines and tried to get away as quickly as possible.
It is difficult to imagine what it was like to race for 152.5 miles on this kind of surface with straights of nearly two miles allowing speeds that must have been very close to the maximum that the machines were capable of. During the race the fastest lap was set by B Rosson who was the hot favourite on a Norton 500. 72.4mph gave him a lap time of 5 minutes and 3 seconds before he retired on lap 15. This compares with Burt Munro’s fastest lap of 5 minutes and 33 seconds on his Velocette.
The real drama came at the very end of the race. As the leader P Clarkson on his Norton entered the front straight, his engine began to misfire. He continued onto the last of the 25 laps only to run out of petrol on the back straight. He siphoned some fuel from a motorcycle at the trackside and was able to
cross the finish line in fourth place. He was then disqualified for refuelling at a place other than the pits.
The drama didn’t end there, because the second placed M McClurg on an AJS 500 crashed when his front forks broke – also on the last lap. That just goes to show that the gods of racing do enjoy a good laugh at the expense of us mortals.
All this mayhem left R Stewart on his Rudge to come home the winner in a time of 2 hours 20 minutes 55 seconds, and Burt Munro on his Velocette was next across the line in a time of 2 hours 25 minutes 13 seconds. Coming home third was L Lamb on his Triumph 500 in a time of 2 hours 27 minutes 42 seconds. This, as far as I know, was Burt’s best finish in the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Of the 36 entries, two were non-starters. Of the remaining 34, 11 were classified as finishers. The Cust course certainly was very hard on both rider and machine. It was quite common for there to be few finishers in these early events. There were a number of places that caused the bikes to leave the ground. The two worst were the sunken bridge on the back straight and the hump bridge on the eastern straight.
Burt Munro did compete in the 1939 race but retired, I believe with piston trouble. In 1940 he is listed as an entrant on a 500 Triumph; however I can find no full list of the finishers, only the top ten, and Burt’s name does not appear.
After the war racing resumed at Cust in 1947 and Burt competed in the Rangiora Handicap race in 1957 and 1959, both years on the Velocette. The circuit remained in use for the Grand Prix until 1963 and has been used on a number of occasions for reunion meetings on Easter Mondays. The last I have records for was on the 50th Anniversary on 31st March 1989.
I have visited the Cust course twice in recent years and it remains mainly unaltered. Some parts around the hairpin now have a tarmac covering. Loose gravel covers the remainder of the track, making it difficult to ride on at any speed. These are now and always have been public roads. In fact in 1949 the Canterbury Autocycle Club and the Cust organisers discovered that the law of the land prohibited road closures for racing. The New Zealand Grand Prix had been run illegally! Frantic lobbying of members of parliament culminated in the Prime Minister granting special dispensation for the race to go ahead.
These days a rather fine brass plaque and stone stand on the pits straight to commemorate those who worked so hard to make these very special events take place.