BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY JIM SCAYSBROOK,
STEPHEN PIPER
I
f there is one motorcycle cre-
ated in the modern era that
is universally recognized as a
milestone in racing motorcycle
design, it is the Britten V-1000.
Created by motorcycle vision-
ary John Britten and his team
of hard-graft mates in a Christ-
church garage, the Britten is
a triumph of persistence and
single-minded determination.
The Britten story has been
well documented in the past
20 years since John's untimely
death at the age of 45, the result
of skin cancer (melanoma) that
claimed his life so quickly. Tim
Hanna is largely responsible
for the access to information
of John's life and that of his
mechanical masterpiece in his
biography – John Britten – great
reading for anyone interested in
what made this genius tick.
The Britten is a machine
that conjures up romanticised
dreams of taking on the world's
best on a primitive budget (by
comparison to his competi-
tion) with your own design and
VOL. 52 ISSUE 22 JUNE 2, 2015 P111
D O N L Y
