As quoted here John Britten was a "visionary, artist, engineer, motivator, innovator, and genius". The full article is well worth reading.
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Here was a kiwi inventor who epitomised the old 'No. 8 wire' philosophy of do-it-yourself. Literally. He used No. 8 wire and a hot glue gun to create the framework mock-up for his bike's body. And he only ever had a shoestring budget to work with.
screenshot, taken by me from the below documentary, of the glue gun in action
John Britten was born in Christchurch (NZ) in 1950, along with his twin sister. He would sadly pass away in 1995, and was mourned by thousands.
I'm not sure if anyone from outside New Zealand can view this documentary, but searching YouTube may yield success for you.
Documentary overview:
In the late 1980s, Kiwi inventor John Britten developed and built a revolutionary racing motorcycle. He pursued his dream all the way to Daytona International Speedway; in 1991, as an unlikely underdog, he came second against the biggest and richest manufacturers in the world...
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/britten-backyard-visionary-1993
the bike in action
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According to Wikipedia:
The Britten V1000 and Britten V1100 are rare machines with only 10 (plus 1 prototype) having been constructed.
Highlights include: [these were components he made himself]
Carbon fibre body work including rims, front suspension fork, and swingarm
Hand cast, 4 valves per cylinder alloy engine
Frame-less chassis with engine acting as a stressed member
Radiator located under the rider's seat
Carbon fibre fasteners (joining bodywork together)
Rear suspension shock located in front of engine
Engine data logging
Non-Britten Components:
Tyres
Brakes
Steel cylinder liners
Gearbox (sourced from a Suzuki)
Suspension shocks
Various electrical components
... and ...
His Britten motorcycles won races and set numerous speed records on the international circuits, and astounded the motorcycle world in 1991 when they came a remarkable second and third against the factory machines in the Battle of the Twins at Daytona, [USA].
If my memory is correct, the only thing that stopped his bike from winning was a non-Britten component that failed during the race. One can only imagine how different things might have been if the bike had won ...
exposed, a thing of beauty
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Aside from designing an amazing motorcycle, John Britten had designed and sculpted glass; and became part of his family's property development team for a time. He had also been designing and building his own home, a barn conversion.
There is a College of Engineering building on the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, NZ) campus named after him. That's pretty impressive.
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Also in Christchurch, there is a park reserve named after him.
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It looks flat on the map, but it isn't. This is a photo of the view from Mt. Pleasant, which sits just underneath the reserve:
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The motorcycles that John Britten invented, thanks to his amazing skills, resourcefulness and determination, are still being enjoyed and appreciated by people even today, as the bikes are displayed in various museums all over the world.
A good old Kiwi battler, Someone was saying one of his bikes were in a hardware store window in Invercargill.
Wouldn't surprise me if it was on special loan sometime. I did read that it has been in the Museum of Transportation in Invercargill (although I've driven past and I doubt it would have window displays).
The info was from a Aussie :)
Great read, as usual @ravenruis
Thank-you.
More people should read about this 'get up and go'' guy. My grandparents called it rumgumption. 😊
Resteemed.
rumgumption - I've never heard that before. Gumption, yes. I like it :D
Yes, it's probably not as positive as it sounds. When I was younger, I couldn't work out what gumption was, then I heard rumgumption and had it explained. But I think the old man who explained it left a little actual truth aside to a young boy, and I've this sort of gut feeling it originated with a RN tradition of a shot of rum daily, Or, before action (at war). But they didn't mean to imply what euphemistically is called Dutch courage, but the putting aside of doubts and going for the goal. 😇
I would likely have hazarded that it was Dutch courage with rum. :D
That might very well have been it's origin, as I said, they were all exRN. 😉
Fun day although again the trouble of thinking of households in terms of economy, please upvote have me. Thank you
Very interesting story! Once again I am convinced that talented people are talented in everything!
True, and it was such a tragedy that this kind of talent wasn't around for long enough. Goodness knows what he might have accomplished!
John Britten is Erik Buell's Australian spirit animal.
Australian, eh? Nope, kiwi all the way. :D
I screwed that up pretty bad. John Britten was a KIWI ALL THE WAY. NOT Australian AT ALL!!!
lol, happens to the best of us.
I was reading up on celebs who were thought to be Australian but were kiwi, and vice versa. Some surprises there ... and several were neither yet claimed by either. I guess sometimes it's about how you see yourself, rather than what your birth certificate might say.
But yes, we can definitely keep our John Britten. ;)
He was pure genius. I've seen one of the bikes at Te Papa.
How cool! I think it a testament that even today his work is so popular.
Thank you, I appreciate it very much. :)