So drag racing got its moment
in the spotlight with “Heart Like A Wheel”, and I think we’d all like to forget Hollywood’s attempts at
dramatizing NASCAR and street racing. However, the fastest form of wheeled racing on earth only now gets a chance to
hit the silver screen (At least I think this is the first movie about land speed racing; I’m sure I’ll find out from
our readers if I’m mistaken). In The World’s Fastest Indian (tagline: “Based on one hell of a true
story”), Sir Anthony Hopkins will play the role of Burt Munro, a crazed Kiwi who’s goal in life was to bring his
Indian Chief motorcycle and peculiar brand of backyard engineering to the Bonneville salt flats.
Stories of
Munro’s inventiveness abound, from casting pistons in beach sand to machining his own connecting rods from tractor axle
components. How much of this is truth and how much is gearhead urban legend, I can’t say; what I do know is that any
68-year-old man who lays his bike down at estimated speeds of over 200 MPH is someone that I would have been happy to
hang with. Whether this will be properly captured on celluloid, I have no idea, but I’m getting goosebumps and
chills thinking about how cool this movie could be (sorry, folks – I’m a real nerd when it comes to this type of
thing).
For those seeking additional info on Burt Munro, there’s a page dedicated to the man and his motorcyle.