Brittens on display at The Burt
The Classic Motorcycle Mecca display celebrating Kiwi legend John Britten is set to get even bigger, with the arrival of the Britten Aero-D-Zero. Britten bikes can only be seen in four museums around the world with the Aero D Zero bringing our John Britten collection up to a whopping four bikes. The bike will be on loan from a private collector.
Transport World executive director Joc O’Donnell says the Britten Aero-D-Zero will be a magnificent addition to Classic Motorcycle Mecca. “Invercargill’s love of wheels gives our city a point of difference, and we feel incredibly lucky to showcase one of New Zealand’s all-time greats in the motorcycling world,” she says. “John Britten was a creative genius, and he left an indelible mark on motorcycling around the world thanks to his revolutionary engineering and vision. His story really is an aspirational one and we were genuinely honoured to have been asked to display this bike in our collection by its owner. We know our visitors will absolutely love it.”
The Aero-D-Zero represents the beginning of the bikes that made John Britten a star on the world stage. Back in the mid-1980s, John Britten and his good mate Mike Brosnan decided to build themselves two race bikes: one for each of them. The Aero bikes started out as a styling project, featuring extended aerodynamic fronts with spoilers and avant-garde bodywork. Their design was sleek and slick, with the shape conforming to their riders’ bodies. Mike had an 860cc Ducati bevel engine, and built a steel trellis frame to suit it. Meanwhile, John designed the bodywork, sculpting the plug from a block of polystyrene and car body filler. It was intended to be used on the street – the initial bodywork incorporated lights, indicators, switch gear – but it never was. Meanwhile, John’s version – what later became the Aero-D-One (also on display at Classic Motorcycle Mecca) was to be the same, but was changed to a monocoque chassis design for race use only. John Britten also decided to power his with a New Zealand-built V-twin engine. The Aero-D-Zero and Aero-D-One were both prototype Britten motorcycles. The bodywork morphed again with the introduction of the next model, the first Britten V1000-powered bike, of which two were built. These were later dubbed Precursors and the third series includes, arguably, the best-known Britten of all: the V1000 Cardinal.