Burt Munro Challenge

2008 Burt Munro

This rally, organised by the Southland Motorcycle Club, continues to be the best Motorcycle event of its kind in New Zealand. It’s professionally run and very well organised with the numbers attending just getting bigger and bigger each year.

Southern Scoot dusted off the old tent and went along for a look. There were only 3 Vespas at the rally – Jenny and my PX’s locally and Ross rode down from Dunedin on his 250.

Pictures of the event here.

The check in was efficient and the security excellent – no getting in and out without your tag and your licence plate number is on the tag to stop any of those nasty bike rustlers. The campsite is huge, with plenty of sheltered spots available, however you need to watch out for those goalposts in the dark ! The marquees are also huge with the bar and the stage and plenty of tables and seating. There’s an excellent variety of food stalls with reasonably priced and tasty food always available.

The first event was the beach racing which was held in excellent conditions on a rarely windless, Oreti beach. Get on one of the buses from the rally site for a quick ride to the beach then find a comfy sandhill to sit on. Some of the Quad bikes racing there are ridiculously fast and road bikes with universal tyres aren’t uncommon. It was great sitting on some sand in the sun, drinking and watching the racing. Later on the bands cranked up in the marquee with the Recliner Rockers being exceptionally good.

Day 2 started at 9.00am with the Sprint racing at the adjacent Teretonga Raceway, with the speedway racing later on in the afternoon. It got a bit cold later and a heavy mist soon turned into rain but a good crowd braved the elements at the Oreti Park Speedway. It looked like the weather was going to pack it in completely but a windy night was soon over after a couple of hours in the marquee.

Day 3 began badly for some of the less well secured tents as they tried to self destruct in the wind but most people had got their campsites tidied up and were ready for the toy run to Wyndham at 9.00am with the street racing to follow. The PX worked hard into a head wind although I did mange to pass an older cocky in his farm truck. The street racing was awesome with some good seating set up at strategic bends and a bridge constructed for the day to get people from one side of the street to the other. It was also very loud when the racing was on so a set of earplugs are a must for next year. I only saw the one accident which didn’t look too serious and the Ambulance was one of the fastest things on the track that day. Unfortuneately no scooter racing there this year but hopefully there will be a class for them next year.

All in all 3 days of fun and motorcycling. I have been to some really good rallys but this one would easily be the best, plus its here in Invercargill. Theres something there for everyone and I’m sure next years will only be bigger and better.