VOL. 52 ISSUE 22 JUNE 2, 2015 P121
alerted me to the chas-
sis' blinding speed of
turn, but this particular
entry, I deliberately run
the Britten wide, with a
bit too much speed, to
see how easy it would be
to get it back on line. In
all honesty, it is just too
easy. Being more than
five foot off line, I simply
have to look where I want
to go, give a slight tug of
the bars and the Britten
just follows my com-
mands, and then when
it comes time to quickly
change direction, with no
hint of hesitation the Brit-
ten swaps lean angles,
with plated suspension,
not even the slightest
hint of bucking or wallow-
ing, and waits for the throttle to
be dialed in. Simply stunning.
And this steering trait belies
the fact that at standstill, the Brit-
ten is a very large motorcycle.
Compared to a GSX-R1100 of
the day it feels like a 600, but
it feels and looks longer than a
Ducati 851 or 888, which were
the benchmarks when John Brit-
ten designed the machine. That
imposing size makes it very com-
fortable for someone of my 6'1"
frame to sit on and tuck in down
the straight. The shape of the
hand-crafted fuel tank does have
a similar feel to that of a Ducati,
in that it locks you in place under
braking with very pronounced
curves for your knees to sit in
when tucked behind the bubble,
but amazingly it also lets the
rider get physical, climbing over
the front of the bike in corners,
which might be one of the
reasons Andrew Stroud was so
successful on the Britten.
I could have ridden for
another 30 laps at a decent
pace, I wasn't tired, but I
soon came to the realiza-
tion that I needed to bring
the Britten home, back to
its owner, who was qui-
etly sweating bullets in the
pits. Upon arrival, I also
realize how hard I've been
concentrating, how much
attention I've been paying
to every little nuance of the
chassis and every pulse
from the engine, and I was
actually quite exhausted.
As I roll back to the
garage, with clutch in, still
revving the engine in the
same ferocity as when I took off,
an enormous crowd gathers to
see the machine come to a stop.
And despite my best efforts, I
do manage to stall it, but it was
about 20 feet from where I had
to go, so it looks like I'd done it
deliberately.
The smile still hasn't left my
face after my experience with
what is undoubtedly one of the
finest, most inspiring motor-
cycles ever created. The Britten
will forever be remembered as a
truly special piece of engineer-
ing, and the fact it was created
by a team of mates in a Christ-
church garage all those years
ago, and not a giant faceless
corporation, makes the machine
all the more special. CN
THE BRITTEN
PICKS UP REVS
WITH SUCH
INTENSITY IT
FEELS AS THOUGH
IT COULD TAKE ON
V-TWINS LIKE A
DUCATI PANIGALE.
Home and in one piece.
Rennie's never been so stoked
– or relieved!
