Burt Munro 2023

And of course the obligatory photo in Tekapo. Stone church with the bronze dog down by the shore.
I tried to take some other photos that show the wide expanses of the MacKenzie Country but again the camera just doesn’t seem to capture it. If anyone wants to see it first hand, I’ll personally give you a guided tour 😉

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I had a racebike customer in Tekapo. He showed me his test track - the access road beside the irrigation canal. Yes, nice seal, reasonably wide, but one side was water and the other was anything from a 3 meter drop to a 40 meter drop. Just driving quietly along it made me nervous.
He was in the habit of taking his Z1 pre 82 racebike out on it. Something like 30km of road before the next access point. He had an arrangement with the local cop - who could hear him going down to the road. If he didn't come back in an hour the cop would come looking.
I didn't like his chances of being found if he went off.
Andy - the tribesmen accident was reported yesterday so either early yesterday or the day prior.
 
Hey Andy which way are you going back??
If you get the chance Greymouth to Westport smooth hot mix with never ending 60km/h bends then if you had more time head on to upper Takika ( not sure if I spelt that correctly)
 
mauricejota7604 said:
Hey Andy which way are you going back??
If you get the chance Greymouth to Westport smooth hot mix with never ending 60km/h bends then if you had more time head on to upper Takika ( not sure if I spelt that correctly)
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Yeah mate, the Coast road’s open again with delays, so we’ll give it a nudge 😁
But not Takaka… too far and too many hippies 🤣
 
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GregT said:
I had a racebike customer in Tekapo. He showed me his test track - the access road beside the irrigation canal. Yes, nice seal, reasonably wide, but one side was water and the other was anything from a 3 meter drop to a 40 meter drop. Just driving quietly along it made me nervous.
He was in the habit of taking his Z1 pre 82 racebike out on it. Something like 30km of road before the next access point. He had an arrangement with the local cop - who could hear him going down to the road. If he didn't come back in an hour the cop would come looking.
I didn't like his chances of being found if he went off.
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Here y’are:
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GregT said:
Ha, did you go over the bridge and onto it ? My customer used to wind the Z up to full noise in top and hold it there for 10 - 15km.
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Haha nah this’ll be a different part, but similar contours. Accessible to the public beside the salmon farm, goes down to one of the power stations.
 
Another day, another alpine pass, another stunning gorge, another wide expanse in the MacKenzie Basin 👍

MacKenzie Basin, with snow-covered Aorangi Mt Cook in the distance:
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Kawarau Gorge:
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Lindis Pass:

(oops, didn’t stop, having too much fun 🤣)
 
First event on the Big Burt timetable was my track day at Teretonga. Very nearly a washout with rain, wind and hail all morning. The locals promised that it wouldn’t be like that all day, and as Greg alluded to earlier: “We should have been here last week!”. And if I too had a dollar every time etc etc, then I would have made twenty bucks in half an hour 🤣
It was very uncomfortable in the morning sessions with standing water on the track plus rain, strong winds and a foggy visor. The rain stopped for a while around lunchtime and although the surface was still wet and cold it felt surprisingly grippy so we had some much better runs.
Lola enjoyed it very much and drank most of the 100 octane I’d fed her 😁
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Wind and rain are normal there. If you don't get rain, you get wind. The year we ran Holden on the GSXR1100 it was a stiff southerly on race day. Trick was to hug the left of the front straight till the end of the pits where you'd get blown across to the right. Bear in mind we had the bike geared for 180 plus MPH - and Holden was running it into the rev limiter in top
New lap record - first bike under 1 minute. Stood for 4 -5 years then Stroud knocked a couple of tenths off on the Britten. At the prizegiving that year Holden apparently said he could have gone around a second quicker on the Suzuki. He had the length of the front straight lead by lap 3.
Cars are under the minute too. F5000 I think probably hold the record. The Toyota series single seaters are not quite that quick.
 
Yes they gave us repeated warnings about that wind. It varied as the wind came in gusts. A real trap for the unwary (me) for the first few laps, right when you’ve got it opened up and wondering about moving over anyway 😬. Also sometimes caught us around that tightening right hander (Castrol?) which was a bit unnerving as we got faster!
Good fun though, glad I did it 👍
 
I just have to say, despite the predictable weather advice, the locals have all been friendly and helpful. Particularly Brent Scammell Honda, who offered me the use of the workshop to do an oil change.
 
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