laura_seabrook | The Fastest Indian (Reply)

The heat this afternoon was terrible - it was 31°C at 4pm (or there abouts). I had to place the old blind on the bedroom window to block out the afternoon sun and dozed until about 7pm.

Anyway, later this evening I watched most of The World's Fastest Indian on TV. This was based on the true the story of Bert Munro, a New Zealand biker, who was famous for setting an under-1000cc world record, 201.8 mph (324.766 km/h), at Bonneville, 26 August 1967. The thing was, he was 68 at the time and raced his own hand modified 1920 Indian motorcycle!

I'm not sure how many of the details in the film are accurate. I suspect lots of characters were invented to show how Bert's naive optimism and honesty enabled him to succeed. Did he use boot polish to repair his tyres? Was taking heart medication at the time? I don't know, but what I got from the film was the wonderful sense of personal achievement he must have had when he broke the record.

Maybe, he succeeded at what he was doing, because he didn't realise it was impossible. Wish there were more Berts out there.