Ultimate test: Britten vs Ducati

[johan]

I dunno what you all are on about. The Britten clearly dominated the Ducatis on the day by wheelying past them at Daytona. End of story. No more what if's.. it was done and dusted.

Thankyou John Britten and Andrew Stroud.

I went to Mr Strouds presentation at Palmerston North a few months ago where he talked about Britten. He explained the wheelies at Daytona was a combination of the position of the swingarm mount and the front's aerodynamic behaviour, that made the front very light at high speeds, and tricky to steer. Not because of incredible power, as one might think.

They later changed the swing arm and redesigned the faring to make the bike behave better.

It's a fascinating story, I just bought the book to learn more!

[vifferman]

Not because of incredible power, as one might think.

It's quoted as having 166hp - while it's not insignificant, it's also not what you'd call 'incredible'.

[enigma51]

There are people out there that believe if the britten had a "normal" fork front end it would have handled better. The no dive caused no feedback or feel for the rider

Then there was the constant breaking down of the bike.

Simply put the bike was way ahead of its time and was prone to breaking.

The fact that Andrew Strout was so successful on it is most likely more to do with his skills than the bike. Now before everyone shoots me down for saying the britten wasnt any good. Let me put it this way

The current motogp ducati is a very good bike............ in stoners hands other struggle with it.

[slowpoke]

There are people out there that believe if the britten had a "normal" fork front end it would have handled better. The no dive caused no feedback or feel for the rider

Then there was the constant breaking down of the bike.

Simply put the bike was way ahead of its time and was prone to breaking.

The fact that Andrew Strout was so successful on it is most likely more to do with his skills than the bike. Now before everyone shoots me down for saying the britten wasnt any good. Let me put it this way

The current motogp ducati is a very good bike............ in stoners hands other struggle with it.

Yep, good points mate.

It would still be an interesting comparison, the Britten is substantially lighter (+20kg's) than the Duc.

Just as inetersting is wondering what we'll be riding in another 15-20years....

[vifferman]

Then there was the constant breaking down of the bike.

Simply put the bike was way ahead of its time and was prone to breaking.

Constant?
In its first few outings, the things that broke were a battery cable and a cracked cylinder. What else broke?
Given that it was basically a home-made machine, without the years and thousands of km of testing factories do, even if it broke down at every outing, that's still not unreasonable for what amounted to a prototype machine.

[LBD]

Yep, good points mate.

Just as inetersting is wondering what we'll be riding in another 15-20years....

Mobility scooters? Cough cough fer some of us

[slowpoke]

Mobility scooters? Cough cough fer some of us

Haha, may well be so mate!

Mine'll have CRG levers,tapered bars, radial master cylinder/calipers, carbon fibre body work......and now I'm off to PM Dr Bob about Ohlins suspension for a Greypower 2000

[Swoop]

Imagine what would be the result if JB had access to today's CNC milling technology, during the development!

[driftn]

Constant?
In its first few outings, the things that broke were a battery cable and a cracked cylinder.

The only parts on the bike not made by JB.
Bloody good effort for a back yard D.I.Y.
The Britten has always been the bike of my dreams and always will be no matter how old it or I get.
I think it would smash a 1098 to be honest.
thats my thoughts on the matter.

[imdying]

The only parts on the bike not made by JB.

Brake calipers? Rotors? Bearings? Pistons? Conrods? Tyres? ECU?

[wbks]

It's a fascinating story, I just bought the book to learn more!

The biography by Tim Hanna? I'm about half way through it now and it's pretty interesting, I feel like I'm overseeing the project in real time Right down to the adding of a "wing" in the pits on race day because of the front getting too light at speed like someone here added. Personally I think a modern day Britten would beat the crap out of any twin and put up a good fight with the superbikes with the right rider. But it always will when you compare a purpose built racing prototype that only has to last one race to a modified race bike but they say it was possibly faster than any 4stroke race bike at the time so that is pretty extreme.

I would definitely not call it a backyard project by any means, more money was pumped into the project than ANY of the competition were doing on their race bikes and he was getting pretty good PR as the underdog.

[McWild]

I don't think any other bike made under the Britten name could really ever be a Britten.
It carries his name because it was his creation, it was something he did with limited resources and pure inteliigence.

If there's ever another "Britten", it'll have someone else's last name on it.

[lostinflyz]

The biography by Tim Hanna? I'm about half way through it now and it's pretty interesting, I feel like I'm overseeing the project in real time Right down to the adding of a "wing" in the pits on race day because of the front getting too light at speed like someone here added. Personally I think a modern day Britten would beat the crap out of any twin and put up a good fight with the superbikes with the right rider. But it always will when you compare a purpose built racing prototype that only has to last one race to a modified race bike but they say it was possibly faster than any 4stroke race bike at the time so that is pretty extreme.

I would definitely not call it a backyard project by any means, more money was pumped into the project than ANY of the competition were doing on their race bikes and he was getting pretty good PR as the underdog.

a rather good read. unfortunatly it killed a bit of my misunderstanding of what went on,and as such muted the myth of britten a bit but at least it appeared an honest account, not all high in praise.

the bike itself was an interesting one to say the least. The development of the bike was impressive for its day, but technology moves fast. When it was first designed computers were only just starting to become common place,so to compare the past with today is missing the acheivements of the time.

I would have loved to have seen the post-britten version of the bike have a good crack at racing. Much of the fundamental flaws of the bike were corrected (well they were attempting to correct them) and it may really have become an absolute weapon of a thing, in many riders hands.

Either way, despite no longer beleiving the myth it is certainly was an impressive feat of engineering, lack of sleep and will by a group of extremely determined individual.

[98tls]

I went to Mr Strouds presentation at Palmerston North a few months ago where he talked about Britten. He explained the wheelies at Daytona was a combination of the position of the swingarm mount and the front's aerodynamic behaviour, that made the front very light at high speeds, and tricky to steer. Not because of incredible power, as one might think.

They later changed the swing arm and redesigned the faring to make the bike behave better.

It's a fascinating story, I just bought the book to learn more!

Great post,cheers.

[JimO]

apparantly John Britten was a arsehole as well