Doin’ The Burt
They say eight out of ten conversations start with the weather. In Invercargill, in the deepest south of NZ’s Southland, it’s more like ten out of ten. And so it was with some degree of trepidation that we listened to the forecast before departing Christchurch on a brand new Yamaha FJR1300A kindly supplied for our use by Yamaha-Motor NZ (see test this issue). Varying degrees of precipitation, from showers to full-on drenchings were prophesied, but as we motored out of the construction site that is Christchurch today and onto the vast flatness of the Canterbury Plain, it was not water, but wind that became the issue. At times the FJR was banked at 20º to counteract the gusts and we were buffeted and bounced remorselessly, but somewhat exhausted, we eventually arrived at picturesque Arrowtown for an overnight stop with former racer and TZ Yamaha collector Rod Price. The following day we cruised down through Queenstown and into the lush green valleys south towards our destination, battling the winds all the way, but at least it stayed dry.
Invercargill is a stately city, set around the beautiful and immaculately kept Queens Park, and it was fairly jumping with motorcycles on what should have been Day Two of The Burt. The show was supposed to open with the NZ Long Track Championships at Ascot Racecourse on Wednesday 26th November but that had been cancelled due to insufficient entries in the championship classes. Nevertheless, the city was well and truly in the grip of ‘The Burt’ – front page news in the Southland Times every day, banners on every pole in the CBD precinct, shops bedecked in motorcycle themes, bikes parked everywhere. Even the local “mens’ establishment” ran a special ad in the paper. “Just Babes would like to welcome everyone to the Burt Munro Challenge. We open at noon seven days a week at 102 Clyde Street.”
Officials put the number of visiting motorcycles at around 1,500, and the Rally Site headquarters near Oreti Beach soon became a sea of tents. Rock bands were there to entertain on Friday and Saturday nights, bars and food courts did brisk business, and the organisers even provided a free breath testing service at the registration centre on site so patrons could check if they were safe to venture onto the roads. A charity Toy Run departed from the Rally Site on Sunday morning with proceeds donated to local underprivileged families. After depositing most of our gear at our motel, we headed for Thursday’s feature event – the NZ Hill