John Britten - anyone on KB know or met him?

[McFatty1000]

Just procrastinating over uni stuff and read a little on John Britten - did anyone on here know him or even better, work with him? Seems like he knew a little bit about bikes and I've seen the Britten V1000 in Te Papa. Any stories? And how do the bikes today stand up to what he produced?

Go on, help me divert myself from being productive today....

[baffa]

One of his bikes is on display in Te Papa.
I touched it and went all gooey inside.

I hope this helps.

[Hitcher]

The late John Britten has had at least two biographies written about him. Get these out of your library and read them.

[Paul in NZ]

His folks had an account at my dads garage and he used to fill various old cars and bikes there on their account. Him and his crowd were a little older than us, but my older brother was a contempary and met him at perties etc before he became well known. So - I've handed him a fuel pump nozzle.... I didnt know what he was going to become...

[James Deuce]

One never does know what the folks you bump into will become. I wish I'd gotten Russ Le Roq's autograph but it's a bit naff to ask some bloke in a pub band for his handle.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Just procrastinating over uni stuff and read a little on John Britten - did anyone on here know him or even better, work with him? Seems like he knew a little bit about bikes and I've seen the Britten V1000 in Te Papa. Any stories? And how do the bikes today stand up to what he produced?

Go on, help me divert myself from being productive today....

walk into casbolts on any given day and there will be at least one Britten there.

[vifferman]

My wife used to work across the road from the Britten workshop in Christchurch, where they would wheel the bikes out onto the verge on fine days, and I saw the Brittens finish 1, 2 and 4 at the NZ GP - does that count?:confused:

[McFatty1000]

Yep, that counts I think, more a curiosity than anything and I'm slowly reading up on things - strange to think people from the same place you live doing that sort of thing...

[Stylo]

Just procrastinating over uni stuff and read a little on John Britten - did anyone on here know him or even better, work with him? Seems like he knew a little bit about bikes and I've seen the Britten V1000 in Te Papa. Any stories? And how do the bikes today stand up to what he produced?

Go on, help me divert myself from being productive today....

Was parking my car sometime late '91 I think in the Noahs Car park in ChCh, on about the 5th floor to meet my girlfriend after work for a drink and a meal. JB parked next to me in his cream early '70s Mercedes coupe - SL280 ?. We walked to the lift and I mentioned I was sorry about the bad luck with his Bike at Daytona, Battle of the twins when it dnf'd due to some $1 part failure.

He started talking, flat out and in animated terms and drawing diagrams with his hands as we walked for a few minutes, about what went wrong and how he knows what went wrong and what he's going to do and should have done etc. Sadly we got to the next intersection and he was going left and I was going right so that was the end of that. What a buzz though, and a privelage. Never bothered to shake his hand dammit.

Often you'd see him cruising around ChCh in his Merc, he bought a TVR after that, wonder where those cars are now ?

[manxkiwi]

John came round to F&P with a bike and Loren Poole some years ago. Did a talk with question time and other bits and bobs. I got to ask a question of him. I can't actually remember what my question was though! Doh.

Best bit was the demo in the driveway! I thought 'what's he going to be able to do in this wee space?'. Came round the corner near vertical hanging off the side at what seemed like 100mph! Legendary.

[mossy1200]

They did a photo shot of the britten and the rail bike in the warehouse beside my place when I was in ChCh. I got to sit on the Britten but was to big to get in the rail bike. They offered to take a shot of the Britten and my FZR1000 genesis together. By then I was dribbling to much to get the words yes out. My FZR wasnt all that flash anyway.

Does that count?

[schrodingers cat]

Not long after he got his TVR John bought it out to Ruapuna ofr a bit of driver training. (The late) Jason Richards was doing some instructing at the time so John and Jace set off to do some laps with Jason driving.
Jason drives the thing at 11/10ths as he was wont to do and cooks the brakes. He has what HE described as 'a bit of a moment' (Translation - I very nearly stuffed it in the wall at Turn 1) John meantime is telling anyone who will listen what a brilliant driver the young fella is and what awesone car control hes got and what a bright future he'll have.
So he was right but for the wrong reason.

The guys used run the bikes out of the Crawford building to get out of the sun and wind in those pre pit garage days. Occasionally they'd leave the bike overnight and maybe even over a weekend on one occasion.
If I'm honest because they were right there and the guys were so down to earth we took it all a bit for granted. For sure it was a cool bike and we respected what they were attempting but we never realised how cool and how big the achievment.

Stroudy used to entertain us at the end of days play by pulling wheelies the length of the straight.

A fella I used to work with gave me an old photo the other day of me sitting on the Brittan beside the pit wall
I remember asking if I could and the guys were like 'Sure, whatever'

[sootie]

You may be interested in some of the Utube video about John Britten which is available eg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM_aNwaodd4

There was a NZ doco made about him - "One Man's Dream" I think.
Probably available through libraries still. cheers

[Asher]

You may be interested in some of the Utube video about John Britten which is available eg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM_aNwaodd4

There was a NZ doco made about him - "One Man's Dream" I think.
Probably available through libraries still. cheers

Here you go:
http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/3503328/One_Man_s_Dream_-_The_Britten_Bike_Story

[pritch]

I was sorry about the bad luck with his Bike at Daytona, Battle of the twins when it dnf'd due to some $1 part failure.


I'm not sure that was actually bad luck - or a $1.00 part.

These days when a GP bike DNFs the PR people usually describe it as an electrical fault. This might actually mean that the piston had hit the spark plug.

It seems john was also aware of the possibilities of blaming an electrical component, one conveniently made by somebody else.
From memory his biography contains another explanation entirely for that DNF. Guess y'all will have to read the book :whistle:

[speights_bud]

Just another interesting little video of some of the earlier design

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWYisJR4i0&feature=related

[Bender]

Tim Hannah's book "John Britten" is a good read. Recommend it (good holiday read because it takes a bit to get through).

[Katman]

Guess y'all will have to read the book :whistle:

Yeah, Tim Hanna's book certainly debunks a few myths about the guy.

[Banditbandit]

You may be interested in some of the Utube video about John Britten which is available eg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM_aNwaodd4

There was a NZ doco made about him - "One Man's Dream" I think.
Probably available through libraries still. cheers


I have One Man's Dream - excellent documentary - I got it from a classic and sports car dealer in Chch .. Fazazz I think. A good chance that it is inside what is now Red Zone.

[HenryDorsetCase]

I have One Man's Dream - excellent documentary - I got it from a classic and sports car dealer in Chch .. Fazazz I think. A good chance that it is inside what is now Red Zone.

Gavin Bain had a metric shitload of very very cool and irreplaceable motoring memorabilia in that shop, plus the stuff he sold, plus cars etc etc.

I am told that they got all the stuff out before the building was demolished.

I see their website says they are up and running again.

http://www.fazazz.co.nz/

[onearmedbandit]

Gavin Bain had a metric shitload of very very cool and irreplaceable motoring memorabilia in that shop, plus the stuff he sold, plus cars etc etc.



Gavin is a good friends godfather, I've been lucky enough to have seen his personal collection at home. Pure heaven.

[AllanB]

Saw him at Ruapuna years back when he was playing around with a early version that had wings by the bars.

I meet his wife some time back at a function .......... mmmmmm

[MIXONE]

I have One Man's Dream - excellent documentary - I got it from a classic and sports car dealer in Chch .. Fazazz I think. A good chance that it is inside what is now Red Zone.

I spent many an hour walking around that shop dribbling.They even had John's first resto for sale there years ago,an idian he'd apparently found under a hedge.
Glad to hear they manged to salvage all the stock.

[Jay GTI]

Not long after he got his TVR John bought it out to Ruapuna ofr a bit of driver training. (The late) Jason Richards was doing some instructing at the time so John and Jace set off to do some laps with Jason driving.
Jason drives the thing at 11/10ths as he was wont to do and cooks the brakes. He has what HE described as 'a bit of a moment' (Translation - I very nearly stuffed it in the wall at Turn 1) John meantime is telling anyone who will listen what a brilliant driver the young fella is and what awesone car control hes got and what a bright future he'll have.
So he was right but for the wrong reason.



In kind of a JB related tangent, I went to school with Jason Richards. He was a couple of years younger than me, so I didn't know him well, but I used to be a St Johns Cadet when I was a kid and would regularly volunteer to sit in the ambo at the Redwood Valley kart track events and watch him race, he was kind of a local hero (I desperately wanted to race karts but my parents costed it up and decided they couldn't afford it).

As a non-related tangent, I was also interested in motocross at the time, with a couple of buddies racing locally (Mark Ferguson and Aaron Fitzgerald). Used to go watch them race as well, I remember when this young kid from Motueka started doing pretty well, I think both Mark and Aaron were a little pissed off about his success. Neither Mark or Aaron really went anywhere with their motocross, but that pesky little kid from Mot did reasonably well, Josh Coppins was his name.

[Maha]

No...but I worked at Graeme Crosby's house for two days a couple of years ago...
Helped him move a water feature before I left (well he did ask nicely)
Spoke to him at the Deli in New World a few weeks after he rode his GSXR at Paeroa with 'whats his name'? on the Britten....
Took my FZ8 out to him to get his opinion on the suspension after the criticism it got on here.

[Maki]

Just procrastinating over uni stuff and read a little on John Britten - did anyone on here know him or even better, work with him? Seems like he knew a little bit about bikes and I've seen the Britten V1000 in Te Papa. Any stories? And how do the bikes today stand up to what he produced?

Go on, help me divert myself from being productive today....

Today's bike engines are actually quite reliable. He pushed the limits and built the thing to perform 100% during a race. Who cares if it all needed to be rebuilt afterwards...

[Banditbandit]

Gavin Bain had a metric shitload of very very cool and irreplaceable motoring memorabilia in that shop, plus the stuff he sold, plus cars etc etc.

I am told that they got all the stuff out before the building was demolished.

I see their website says they are up and running again.

http://www.fazazz.co.nz/

Cool. Excellent - there was too much stuff there to lose.

I love wathcing One Man's Dream - the race at Daytona ... when Ducati was expected to win ... Stroud turns the Britten inside the leading Ducati then pulls a wheelstand alongside it ... the Ducati rider's reaction is something to behold ... (No, the Briten didn't win .. . after proving it was faster than anything esle on the track it stopped with problems ...)

[Banditbandit]

Just another interesting little video of some of the earlier design

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWYisJR4i0&feature=related

I remember seeing that race at Manfield ... my visual memoery has it coming through the Esses in the lead ... I thought it was ugly then and I still think it was ugly .. but fuck it was fast .. and just listen to that exhaust note!!

[Metal Doctor]

Just procrastinating over uni stuff and read a little on John Britten - did anyone on here know him or even better, work with him? Seems like he knew a little bit about bikes and I've seen the Britten V1000 in Te Papa. Any stories? And how do the bikes today stand up to what he produced?

Go on, help me divert myself from being productive today....

I had the honour of seeing and hearing the V1000 around the isle of man. it was a truly awesome spectacle! Sadly in 1994 Mark Farmer lost his life when he crashed the Britten in practice.

the bike is 20 years old now, it still looks like its from the future!

I cant recall of anyone who has biult a bike that has done so well at racing and gained the respect and admiration of people around the world.

John Britten was a genius, and should be treasured as a national hero!

Carl Fogarty tried it with the petronas FP1 but it was plagued with issues and they pulled the plug after a couple of years, and he had the backing of a multi million dollar team behind him!

The Britten will remain a ledgenary bike for all time and one of my personal favorites.

If you havent seen the documentary 1 mans dream i would advise it, you cant help but get excited when Andrew Stroud toys with the race leading factory Ducati at Daytona and pulls a wheelie past him!

[Macontour]

Years ago while in ChCh on business I had some time to kill so went and looked for the Britten workshop. I could see the guys working and was standing there watching and eventually asked if I could go in and have a look. They had no worries at all and one of the guys was showing me the bike when John arrived back from somewhere. He sort of looked sideways at me and I just said Hi and that I was a fan and shook his hand. He appeared to have a million things on his mind but still gave me a minute or 2 of his time.

Very cool being allowed into the hallowed halls where such a great bike was being built and meeting the great man himself. It really was a huge loss to NZ when he died way too young.

[1billyboy]

Back last century I was at Bay Park doing some flag marshaling. Got talking to a person who was sweeping stones from under a shade tent in the pit area. It was only when the bikes came in from a practice run that I found out that it was John Britton. Can't remember what we talked about but there was always a lot of lose stone in the pit area when we did rider training there.

[pete-blen]

2 little facts I have only found out in the last few years...

1...
I use to race a Kawasaki S3 400 & Yamaha RD400 in what was the 410cc prodution class
in the late 70s.... at a few club days at Ruapuna this guy use to turn up
on a Ducati... Mate who also raced at the time told me that guy
was John Britton... " before He was John Briton" spoke to him quite often...
can't ever remember him raceing at a meeting.. just use to turn up
at club/practice days a few times....

2...
The Britton motor always looked familar.... could never place it...
Since found out that Bob Denson had a big hand in it...
Denco Engineering in ChCh.. Bob use to build speedway motors
late 80s/early 90s.. The top end of the Britton has a uncanny resembalance
to his 500cc solo motors... Bob also built a 1000cc Vee twin
that was in a speedway sidecar unit... They had to de-bug the
motor somewhere..??


Bob Denson was a very smart guy... He raced speedway midgets and built
his own motors... a in line 4 air cooled... then a water cooled Vee 4..?

[Brian d marge]

I used to work for "motivation" with Garry boot ? And used to walk down the road past the artist quarters to the dairy on the corner right past jb and never knew
I used to help the triumph shop , chch motor cycles in odd jobs , wonder if Lyndsay remembers towing the commer van back from sockburn ,,I forgot the hand brake ......
Must have bumped into jb but I didn't know him from Adam and it was all low key so he didn't stand out
Stephen

[Big Dave]

Somewhere in NZ is my friend Kenny. Living the Hippy life as he's done since he worked for Britten, J.
Some of you will know him.
(Cross him and you'll answer to me - and I use sarcasm.)

From what Ken tells me his main duty was to roll the joints and clean the workshop.

Legend.

[Grumph]

I worked for John at the stables for a short time. Quite funny as I would be alone there during the day but in the morning the place (and my lathe) would be covered in swarf as there were about 20 guys coming in every night...
Eventually fell out with Kirsty....as a lot did. The NZ Cat Fancy has me to thank for there not being a Britten cat....

I have AFAIK two unique distinctons....I got paid for everything I did for him.....and later scrutineering the GP meeting I became the only scrutineer to fail a Britten. The steering damper was the steering stops. When John was out of sight, Mike B snuck over to thank me...they'd been telling him for weeks it was wrong...

Genius - debatable....Charismatic to the point of mesmerising quite sensible people to follow his dreams, OH yes !

[Monkfish]

JB and Burt Munroe, (amongst other ppl) make me proud to be a kiwi.

[Eddieb]

He used to turn up at trackdays at Bay Park with a bike or 2 for testing when I was there and you could get up close to it and see it being run through it's paces.