John Britten

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Since his tragically early death in 1995, John Britten has deservedly taken his place as a great New Zealand hero. He was the man who, with a small dedicated team in Christchurch, designed and built from scratch the extraordinary Britten V-twin motorcycle. For a time this beautiful, revolutionary machine was probably the fastest four-stroke bike in the world; a motorcycle that could wheel stand at a 150 mph simply by opening up the throttle. This is the first serious biography of John Britten to have been published, the result of five years research by the author Tim Hanna. It details his early life, the development of the early prototype motorcycles, and then the gruelling cycle of hard work, setbacks and failures before the Britten V-twin finally beat the world’s best.

His bike enthralled legions of fans worldwide, captured not only by the elegance, brilliance and power of the machine, but also by the romance of his story, that of an individual taking on the power and might of some of the world’s best motorcycle manufacturers, and winning. John Britten is a book with appeal far beyond the motorcycling fraternity, for it has a universally inspiring theme -– that extraordinary things are possible when a person can turn their dreams into reality.

After a varied career ranging from oil exploration to oyster farming Tim Hanna became a copywriter and eventually a Creative Director in the advertising industry. He turned more seriously to words when he wrote the controversial documentary Rubber Gloves or Green Fingers for TVNZ. He then began work on Britten, a project in part driven by his own life long interest in motorcycles. He is also a qualified skipper and is currently restoring a classic 1907 motor-sailor. Tim Hanna lives in Auckland.