Cor Blimey Guv

Posted on Saturday 5 May 2007 at 09:21 - Post Comment

I like motorbikes.  I like them a lot.  I've ridden since I was 20, having got my licence when I was between girlfriends and had a bit of time on my hands,

I then got into racing bikes.  Road racing to be more specific, which involved racing my bike (a Yamaha TZR250 1kt model) around the race tracks of the UK, including Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Cadwell Park race circuits.  I loved doing that too, and learnt a new respect for the engineers who dedicate their money, time and effort into making bikes go faster and faster.

One evening whilst having a beer with Neil Ronketti, the guy who'd introduced me to racing in the first place, he gave me a big fat book with the picture of a blue and hot pink motorbike on the front, accompanied by a guy with floppy hair sat cross-legged in front of it.  'Here,' he said 'read this when you've got the time', and so I slung it in the back of the car and forgot about it for a while.

A couple of weeks later I was cleaning out the car and came across the book, and took a closer look at the picture - realising that the blue and pink bike was like no motorcycle I had ever seen before.  This prompted me to start reading it there and then, and 2 weeks later (it's a hefty thing, believe me!) I was able to escape the spell of John Britten and the bike he and his small team of engineers created right here in Christchurch.

I can't do John's story justice, so pay www.britten.co.nz/history/johnbritten.html a visit to get the full run down.  A brief synopsis is that John was an engineer, an artist, a business man and a genius.  He loved all things mechanical, and in his youth completed a number of difficult restoration projects.  He LOVED motorbikes, and raced a fair number.  When it came to him trying to build his very own race 'bike, he decided against using a donor engine to fit in his own chassis, and felt that it would be better to build a bike from scratch.  And I mean, from scratch.  The result?  The Britten.  A bike so far ahead of the other 'bike manufacturers of the l990's, that the general public didn't know what to make of it - and then it started winning races and people really started taking notice.

John and his team built a total of 10 Britten 'race 'bikes, until at the age of 45 John passed away following a short battle with cancer.  Christchurch, New Zealand, and the international motorcycle community mourned.

Having finished the book and absorbed exactly what John and his team had acheived - effectively beating massive international motorcycle manufacturers at their own game - I was hooked on both the story, and the bike.

Of the 10 bikes built by Britten, 3 remain in NZ, and one is here in Christchurch.  And of all the places in all of Christchurch, guess where that one is right now?  Only in the lobby of Jade Software - the company where Toni was temping last week!   No glass case, no barriers, no museum attendants insisting we 'stand back' and 'don't touch'.  Hell no, it's just there, in direct line of sight as soon as you walk through the door.  Toni emailed me this week whilst I was at work with the news and I first off said she was lying.  But no, a quick visit the next day confirmed it, there really was a Britten in the lobby!!

Apparently 2 guys with a van had pulled up ouside, unloaded what is probably now a near priceless piece of motorcycle art and engineering, and asked 'Where d'ya want it luv'?!'  Unbelievable!

Mine, it all MINE I TELL YOU!:

Rev counter and 'on' switch - as all race bike cockpits should be, complete with carbon dash. Nice!

Me about to wheel it off to my front lounge, surely no one'll notice!:

Amazing experience, amazing man, amazing bike.  Chuffed?  Me?  You betcha!