Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 22 JUNE 2, 2015 P115 regularly, and not just plodded around. It gets ridden the way John intended – hard – like a real racebike should, and regu- larly by the man who created the Britten racing legend, Andrew Stroud. The fact this is the case is purely down to its owner, Kevin Grant of Auckland. Kevin made his fortune in agriculture machin- ery, and these days chooses to spend his leisure time displaying his many rare and exotic ma- chines at racetracks and func- tions in New Zealand and occa- sionally abroad. Fortunately, he allowed me the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream of riding the Britten, but I'll confess to having a severe case of the butterflies before I climbed on board at the Broadford Bike Bonanza in Victoria, Australia. The Britten's sheer physical presence makes you feel as though you're in the company of royalty. Everyone who passes stops and gawks at it, pointing, discussing and photograph- ing something that looks unlike any motorcycle created before or since. The Britten had been parked just outside the Motorcy- cling Australia tent for the major- ity of the weekend at Broadford, and it never has any less than a two-deep crowd around it. It is a nervous wait to see if I am going to actually ride this almost mythical machine. Four-times World Grand Prix Champion, Hugh Anderson, is one of the star attractions of the meeting and the only person scheduled to ride the Britten at Broadford. It takes a bit of to-and-fro but finally owner Kevin Grant allows me the majority of one session to get a feel for the machine, cut a few fast laps and return it as I found it. That final point can not be stressed highly enough—I am told prior to my laps that this machine is worth conservatively north of $500,000, and if I were to dam- age it, I will be working for free, forever. The time finally arrives when I am scheduled to take the track, and with a few choice words from Kevin and Hugh to "watch the throttle down low," I venture over to the waiting machine that had just been fired on the roller by Anderson. The Britten needs to be parts from different manufacturers, but Britten had his own map-design to which they needed to conform. Many teething issues were to arise during development of the original V1000 en- gine of the late 1980s, with team mem- ber Mark Franklin largely responsible for getting the system to run smoothly. The system is fed by twin sequential Bosch injectors per cylinder, tuneable by laptop through the connection on the inside front left of the fairing, but the system can also be richened or leaned out by the rider depending on conditions via the little knob on the left side handlebar—something that was regularly done when the Britten was raced at the Isle of Man. The cooling system was and still is a rarity in motorcycle design. With John Britten's steadfast refusal to mount a fairing, and the other problem that the design of the V-1000 meant the radiator would effectively become an aerodynamic hindrance, the deci- sion was made to mount the radiator under the seat. High pressure air is fed to the radiator via an internal duct at the front of the bodywork that runs straight through the fuel tank, while two extra ducts running either side of the radiator duct feed high pressure air straight through the tank to the air- box. Placing the radiator beneath the seat meant the Britten would be able to maintain its aerodynamic shape, while reducing the radiator's size and increasing its cooling efficiency. Bingo! The incredible spaghetti-style exhaust system took 70 hours to com- plete, so crashing the bike is not an option! The earlier 1100cc model had its exhaust snake together with a final outlet near the rider's right boot, while this model's pipe feeds into a collec- tor box with two outlets that exit either side of the rider. The view very, very few riders will ever get to experience.

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