In Christchurch, New Zealand, John Britten gathered a team around the ambition to build his own racing motorcycle. Just ten pink and blue Britten bikes were made between 1991 and 1998. Craftspeople and mechanics who turned ideas into components deserve a place alongside the designer in this story.
The V1000 specification lists a liquid-cooled 999 cc V-twin with four camshafts and electronic fuel injection. Its engine-management computer could retain operating data. That combination hints at how many systems the small team had to bring together in one racing machine.
Te Papa museum holds one of these motorcycles and records its 1993 flying-mile achievement in the class up to 1000 cc: around 302 km/h. Britten’s work offers a different perspective on motorcycle manufacturing: a small workshop’s results can be measured on the scale of an international racetrack.