Designing and building a new superbike is a complicated process with lots of challenges along the way, even for a major manufacturer. Even with vast budgets and seemingly endless resources, creating a high performance motorcycle that works straight out of the crate is not easy by any stretch of the imagination.
So when you consider all of these complexities, the success of the Britten V1000 is even more mind blowing. It was built by a group of close friends, led by John Britten from a small workshop in New Zealand – a country regarded as the ends of the Earth in motorcycle manufacturing terms, but renowned for some incredibly innovative engineers.
The early days
The world-famous Britten V1000 evolved from three previous designs that John and his Kiwi friends had been working on since 1985. The first two won BEARS (British, European, American Racing and Supporters) speed trials in Canterbury in 1987, 1989 and 1990, reaching speeds of 154mph. The third version was the precursor to the final V1000 design.
Built from scratch, with a water-cooled petrol engine and a green and black painted carbon-fibre body bearing the Britten signature, it represented hundreds of hours of rushed work by John and his friends to get it ready for the 1989 Daytona Pro Twins race. They made the deadline and got to the United States, but it only got as far as the first corner before breaking down.
It was back to the drawing board for John and the small Britten team on their return from Daytona. Taking the approach that it wasn’t going to be possible to beat race bikes from bigger factories like Ducati by copying them, John and his team set out to radically redesign the Britten, making sure that almost every component served multiple purposes to keep the bike as compact as possible. John wanted it to be lighter, more streamlined and faster than any bike before it, and could already see how to improve the suspension, induction system and the wheels.
John set up a workshop with second-hand lathes and milling machines in cheap rented premises. It was here that the engine was made, while the bodywork was created in the garage at the side of his home. John Britten’s years of research into motorcycle components and aerodynamics, as well as learnings from his previous engineering efforts, clicked into place in the form of the Britten V1000.
The most innovative motorcycle in the world
To keep the bike slim, the radiator was mounted horizontally under the seat, cooled by air from ducts in the front fairing. The rear shock absorber then filled the space where the radiator would ordinarily be at the front, connected by a rod to the swingarm, keeping the weight forward and bike stable. The slimline V-twin engine was kept at a 60-degree angle and mounted forward for better weight distribution, with the distinctive blue spaghetti-like exhaust also keeping the bike slim. The bespoke exhaust system took 60 man hours to create alone.
The engine, which produced 166bhp, was arguably the most innovative part of the Britten V1000. Apart from one or two components it was made totally from scratch by the Britten team in their small workshop. It also played an integral part of the frameless chassis, allowing everything on the bike to hang off the engine. All engine functions were also recorded by an on-board computer, which ran an engine-management programme. Every few hundredths of a second, it sampled and processed temperatures, speed, and throttle position among other things, giving the rider a precise picture of what was happening with the bike in real time.
The wishbone suspension at the front was another ground breaking innovation. Usually motorbikes have telescopic front suspension, relying on sliding bushes to allow vertical wheel movement. But John Britten’s newly designed system, built from carbon fibre with roller bearings inside sets of aluminium wishbone forks, could handle a lot more load while remaining free-moving, enabling the bike to absorb bumps more effectively and giving the tyres more grip, so the bike could corner faster, brake harder and accelerate more quickly without losing control. Riders could also adjust the front suspension on the fly, something that superbikes today have only just started to feature.
The never-seen-before engineering that went into the Britten V1000 earned it the name of the world’s most advanced motorcycle from Cycle World. It baffled major factories, who couldn’t understand how a handful of people in a small New Zealand workshop could out-smart teams of engineers with the financial resources of leading motorcycle manufacturers.
Racing pedigree
The Britten V1000 recorded 39 race victories and 12 further podiums between 1991 and 1999, as well as an impressive list of top speed records. In particular, 1993 was a special year for records, with the V1000 setting the fastest top speed at the Isle of Man TT, it took the New Zealand Grand Prix title, set the world record for the flying mile in the 1000cc and under category at 188.092 mph, the world record for the standing start 1/4 mile (1000cc and under) at 134.617 mph, the world record for the standing start mile (1000cc and under) at 213.512 mph, and the world standing start kilometre record (1000cc and under) at 186.245 mph.
It’s safe to say that the Britten V1000 will forever be one of the most iconic and innovative motorcycles ever built, with an equally iconic story behind how it came to the fore of motorcycling in the 1990s. John Britten truly was one of history’s motorcycling mavericks and it is a great shame that we would never get to see the true potential of his ideas. He died from cancer, aged 45, in 1995.
