Just another interesting little video of some of the earlier design
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWYi...eature=related
Semi-retired
Just another interesting little video of some of the earlier design
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWYi...eature=related
Hardcore Biker
Tim Hannah's book "John Britten" is a good read. Recommend it (good holiday read because it takes a bit to get through).
Forum whore
Yeah, Tim Hanna's book certainly debunks a few myths about the guy.Originally Posted by pritch
Guess y'all will have to read the book
Anarchic Wild Child
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.
"So if you meet me, have some sympathy, have some courtesy, have some taste ..."
"channellling the Pleideans"
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/
I thought elections were decided by angry posts on social media. - F5 Dave
Forum whore
Gavin is a good friends godfather, I've been lucky enough to have seen his personal collection at home. Pure heaven.
Forum whore
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
Pasta La Vista
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.
Never too old to Rock n Roll.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I've got miserly tourettes and I don't give a fuck.
Forum whore
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.
NEDWN VIII
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.
A flash of lightning
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...
Ride fast or be last.
Anarchic Wild Child
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 ...)
"So if you meet me, have some sympathy, have some courtesy, have some taste ..."
Anarchic Wild Child
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!!
"So if you meet me, have some sympathy, have some courtesy, have some taste ..."
Scooter boy
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!
Highway Biker
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.
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