Motorsport: Touching tribute to trailblazer Britten

Stephen Briggs (left) and Andrew Stroud will roll back the years when they hop on their original Britten race bikes at Ruapuna. Photo / Doug Cornes

Designer’s revolutionary V1000 machines to be star turn at Sound of Thunder

It's hard to believe that one of New Zealand's most innovative motorcycle engineers and bike designers died 20 years ago at the relatively young age of 45. John Britten turned the motorcycling race world on its head in the early 1990s with his cutting edge, lightweight and wickedly quick V1000 machines.

Arriving at Daytona Raceway in 1991 with what many thought were the weirdest racing bikes they'd ever seen, the two Kiwi-engineered, designed and built bikes shook the establishment at the Battle of the Twins event by finishing second and third.

This weekend at Ruapuna, in a fitting tribute to Britten, who hailed from Christchurch, the annual Sound of Thunder race meeting is to be a John Britten tribute event. On hand over the weekend will be former Britten team riders Andrew Stroud and Stephen Briggs riding their respective championship bikes.

Stroud will be on the Kevin Grant owned magenta and blue machine often seen being demonstrated around the traps, and the bike on which he won his British European American Racing Series (BEARS) world title. Briggs, on the other hand, will be on his chequered machine now owned by Bob Robbins, which has not been seen on a racetrack for 15 years until recently at Pukekohe and Hampton Downs.

Probably the most memorable race the pair had was at Brands Hatch as a support class for the 1995 world Superbike championship. The two Kiwis lapped half the field and finished first and second with Stroud taking the honours and going on to win the world championship.

"It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since he [Britten] passed away. I've got fond memories of my time with John and it was a big part of my racing career. It doesn't seem that long ago we were together and he's still well remembered by a lot of people," said Stroud. "One of my best memories is from Brands Hatch when these two bikes were there and the whole crowd of 65,000 people were on their feet cheering as we crossed the line one-two. That was in August nearly 20 years ago and John saw the race from his hospital bed two weeks before he passed away."

Stroud and Briggs will be riding at Ruapuna this weekend probably the two most famous Brittens of the seven that have been confirmed for the event. When first showcased to the racing public and riders in the early 1990s the bike drew incredulous looks. People had seen nothing like it and couldn't work out how they could possibly race, let alone go fast.

"Lots of people design different parts of motorbikes but you don't often get someone doing the whole thing from scratch. It really stood out at the time because it didn't have any forks, no conventional frame and looked so different.

"The first time I rode the bike I was really surprised how powerful it was and how much acceleration it had. It was also so light - in fact, a modern day superbike still weighs 20kg to 25kg more than the Britten. It handled really well and was so easy to flick from left to right, and you could break really late with it.

"The first time at Daytona, people were looking and wondering what it was. After the race - I had been just 0.1sec off the lap record - there were a mass of people swarming over it. Even Doug Polen, the world Superbike champion, came over with a big smile saying 'wow, what is this thing'.

"Three years later we went back to Daytona and set the fastest lap speed of 305km/h, which stood for quite a few years," said Stroud.

The Britten certainly made its mark on motorcycle racing history and anyone who either rode them, or saw them racing, still has vivid memories of the thundering V1000 machines. Stroud went on to win the battle of the Twins at Daytona in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 on a Britten.

"As time goes on I appreciate them more and more. They still look like they could be a brand new [designed] bike straight off the showroom floor," said Stroud.