Historical Accuracy
The historical Munro married Florence Beryl Martyn on 6 August 1925, whom he divorced in 1950/51. The couple had four children together. However, no mention is made of children in the film, but it is implied that he was married and either estranged or divorced.
Munro in the film recalls the death of a twin brother named Ernie, who died when a tree fell on him. The historical Munro had an older brother who was killed when a tree fell on him. Munro also had a stillborn twin sister.
The historical Munro had set numerous speed records in New Zealand during the late 1930s through the early 1970s. However, these records are only implied in the film.
The Bonneville run in the film is a composite of several runs Munro made, the first in 1956. In 1962 at Bonneville, he set the record of 178.971 MPH.
Munro's fastest complete run at Bonneville was 190.07 MPH. He never set a record of 201 MPH at Bonneville as the film portrays, but did reach 205.67 MPH on an uncompleted run, on which he unfortunately crashed. Munro does crash after his 201 MPH record-breaking run, which is officialised unlike the 205.67 MPH run.
Munro was never known to urinate on his lemon tree; film director Roger Donaldson added that detail as a tribute to his own father, who did.
The May 1957 edition of Popular Mechanics (p6) has a letter to the editor about H.A. "Dad" Munro and his 1920 Indian Scout.
Near the end of the film, Speed Week participants throw money into "the hat" and Burt Munro is presented with a bag of cash before he sets the speed record. In fact, Munro had to take up a collection before Speed Week as U.S. Customs required a cash bond before releasing his motorcycle.
A photograph of the gathered crowd presenting Munro with the bag of cash, in 1962, was reprinted in a 2006 issue of Hot Rod magazine.
An inaccuracy occurs towards the end of the film when a lemon tree is shown: - the scene in question is in Invercargill, a city that typically sees frost every month of the year and is therefore too cold for the cultivation of lemons.
Read more about this topic: The World's Fastest Indian
Famous quotes containing the words historical and/or accuracy:
“In public buildings set aside for the care and maintenance of the goods of the middle ages, a staff of civil service art attendants praise all the dead, irrelevant scribblings and scrawlings that, at best, have only historical interest for idiots and layabouts.”
—George Grosz (1893–1959)
“As for farming, I am convinced that my genius dates from an older era than the agricultural. I would at least strike my spade into the earth with such careless freedom but accuracy as the woodpecker his bill into a tree.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)