From the Archives. Britten V1000
The 1st of the Britten V1000's. Commonly known locally as the Don Knitt Britten, John's sponsor at that time. This is the 1st of the Britten's with John's own motor fitted and the 1st bike John took to the USA (NB. the conventinal front end). The previous bike (Aero-d-one) had a Christchurch built 1000cc VTwin Denco speedway motor, and Aero-d-Zero, the John Britten inspired & built fully faired (The Beak) Ducati 900SS of a friend. John had an open effervescent personality, loved talking with people about his creation. Â Pic taken 1990. John chatting with a group of admirers. Bears 'Sound of Thunder' meeting held annually last weekend of Feb. at Christchurch's Ruapuna Raceway. NB, the series of Sound of Thunder race posters folded and taped together & hanging on the tent behind John, featuring his Britten.
Britten # 1
You must be logged in to comment
Login now
141 months ago
Hi Marina, I spoke with Rob Selby over the weekend (Machinist Britten Team) at a vintage MotoX meeting & asked re Aero-d-One. It is one of the bikes on display at Casbolts & survived the earthquakes, though it no longer runs as it broke a conrod & it has never been repaired. Craig Roberts (Sales Manager)of Casbolts, I believe is the owner of this machine. Next time I'm in town I will stop by & have a yarn with Craig & take some current pics for you. Regards Stuart
141 months ago
No problem. John was a neat guy, so full of enthusiasm. Young Sam, his son has many of John's attributes in regards design & engineering. Kirsteen is absolutely lovely, was an International fashion model until John flew to NY, proposed & bought her home. The 2 girls are just like their mum, tall, blonde & beautiful.
141 months ago
@blueymac - Great video. I wish I could have met John Britten. Thanks for posting it, I'll reuse your post and add the video to it.
141 months ago
Sorry Marina, The John Britten book is called simply "John Britten" by Tim Hannah, 1st edition 2003, Craig Potton publishing. It has a goodrange of photos of all the bikes including Jon Whites Britten Streamliner. I have photos of this at the Bears annual speed trials on our local South Eyre Road.
141 months ago
Marina, It is worth looking at this site; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM_aNwaodd4 Type in Britten on Google, you will get plenty of sites worth visiting. Worth reading is 'The Britten Story' by Tim Hannah (wrote a book on Burt Munro & Kim Newcombe also) and the CD (film) One Man's Dream. If you are coming down to NZ at anytime, let me know, I still have contact with Bros (mechanic), Selby (machinest) & Mark Franklin (Avionics engineer). Andrew Stround still racing NZ's annual national Points series. I haven't seen Garry Goodfellow for a few years. His parents still live in NZ.
141 months ago
Hi Marina, I will have to go back into my archives of photos I took on film back then. I should have some of Aero-d-Zero as I raced regularly with Mike Brosnan (owner of A-d-0)back then. Outward appearances are much the same, both had the same fibre-glass work, just different motors & rolling chassis. I will ask questions of what happened to this machine. It may have been canibalised to make #1 Britten, with the remaining parts left in the Old wokshop in Town. This building was Red Stickered following severe damage in our earthquakes. I hear much of the parts stored in that building have deteriorated & are unusable due to water & weather damage over the past 2 years. John past away about 15 years ago at age 45 from cancer. Kirsteen & their 3 children still live in Christchurch. Check out http://www.britten.co.nz The Britten photos on this site show a shot of Aero-d-One. The G stands for Gary Goodfellow, the expat Kiwi, who was based near Vancouver & raced it at Daytona & in the Nth American battle of the Twin series back then.
141 months ago
Great pic do you have any shots of Aero-d-one - be interesting to see that. Are you still in touch with John? If you are, can you ask him to list out his customizations - that is if he remembers 'em 😃