A mini-documentary on the legendary Britten V1000 has gone viral on the internet. Unannounced in a “soft release” earlier this week, it was viewed more than 110,000 times in 48 hours. Since then more than 30,000 viewers are looking at the documentary every day.
Kevin Grant, the owner of the 1995 World BEARS Championship-winning Britten V1000, commissioned this film to describe the experience of taking his bike back to the Isle of Man TT in 2013. Grant is returning to the island again in August for the Classic TT. This time he will be accompanied by another V1000, the ex-CR&S Britten now owned by American Bob Robbins.
At the height of their endeavours the Britten team took three V1000 racers to the 1994 Isle of Man TT races. There they were confronted by the dark side of the world’s most famous but also most dangerous race track.
Irish road racer Mark Farmer was killed that year when he high-sided the CR&S Britten at the infamous Black Dub in practice chasing Honda factory racer Steve Hislop.
A year later John Britten died from inoperable cancer but his regular rider, Andrew Stroud, won the inaugural World BEARS Championship, handing the trophy to the bike’s creator a few weeks before he died.
The documentary was released on the Facebook page Britten Motorcycle World Champion. Grant has created this site to document his preservation and regular use of the BEARS title-winning bike.
The documentary has received the official blessing of the original Britten Motorcycle Company. When they posted a link to it on their website they said: “So exciting to have two bikes going to the Isle of Man TT in August. Thanks to Kevin Grant and Bob Robbins, such wonderful owners/custodians of the bikes for honouring John by keeping the Britten story alive!”
Kevin Grant said this week: “The Britten story is as powerful in the sporting world as our famous America’s Cup Team. It’s all about Kiwi inspiration, ingenuity and determination.”
A co-director of the film, New York-based Callum Cooper, said: “John Britten was described by his contemporaries as a “a renaissance man”, His clean-sheet approach turned motorcycle design on its head in the early 1990s. His inspiration took many equally talented people with him on a journey that I tried to capture and give a voice to in this film.”
https://www.facebook.com/BrittenMotorcycle/videos/1593187817399240/
