KEY POINTS:
Alan Thoresen might have a GPS and computer to fine-tune the performance of his motorbike, but he is just as determined as the legendary Burt Munro to break a land-speed record.
Thoresen, 53, is one of 11 New Zealanders heading to Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats
in Utah next month.
Bonneville is where Munro broke two land-speed records, in 1962 and 1967, both on an Indian motorcycle he bought four decades earlier and modified in his Invercargill garage.
His deeds were immortalised in the 2005 movie The World's Fastest Indian, which Thoresen said "sealed the deal" for him in deciding to go to Bonneville.
A long-time motorbike enthusiast and drag racer, he had longed to go to the Salt Flats since the late 1970s and said the movie helped make up his mind to pursue his dream.
"[Munro] was over there on his lonesome, and the bike he had, it was amazing what he managed to do," Thoresen said.
The former pilot and flight engineer made his first, very respectable attempt at following in Munro's footsteps last year.
He reached 186 miles per hour (299km/h) on the Bonneville track, just 10mph below a world record set for his class. But misfortune struck just before the five-mile mark when he hit a piece of debris and was propelled into two timing markers further down the track.
He was uninjured but learned lessons about the slippery, marshy surface, which he described as "a combination between a beach and ice".
The heat was also extreme, with temperatures of up to 50C to cope with.
Thoresen was the only New Zealander to compete last year and said others at Bonneville showed great respect for Munro, who died in 1978.
This year, of the 11 Kiwis competing, four are riding motorbikes and the balance are racing in cars.
Thoresen is riding the same bike as last year, but has weighted it down with 35kg of lead shot which he hopes will improve traction.
He had his last practice run at Hamilton Airport yesterday before the 1352cc Kawasaki ZX-14 - called Black Thunder - leaves for Utah on July 29.
He and his crew of three, including his American wife Violet, follow two weeks later, before Speed Week begins on August 17.
Despite wet conditions, Thoresen reached 299km/h on the runway yesterday and said he was confident of achieving his target - and a world record - of 315km/h in the PP (production) class at Bonneville.
He has reached 340km/h in training and holds several national records for motorbike drag racing.
