The Britten V1000 is right there amongst the all-time greats, possibly even at the top. A handbuilt race motorcycle designed and built by John Britten and a group of friends in Christchurch, New Zealand during the early 1990s, the V1000 went on to win the Battle of the Twins in Daytona International Speedway’s Daytona Bike Week festivities in the United States and set a number of world speed records. Designed from first principles and hosting a number of innovations including extensive use of carbon-fibre, radiator located under the seat, double wishbone front suspension, frameless chassis and engine data logging, the V1000 was way ahead of its time, and considered by many to be the best mototcycle ever built. A total of 10 Britten V1000s were produced by the Britten Motorcycle Company and now exist in collections and museums around the world.

Renowned motorcycle journalist Alan Cathcart even went on to say – “It’s an easy bike to ride, in the sense it’s got a very wide power delivery, but to really get top performance, you have to ride it like a grand Prix bike. And having ridden all the superbike contenders in the world today, I can say that the Britten is the closest to a GP bike. It’s incredibly ironic that instead of Europe or Japan, the most sophisticated and technically advanced motorcycle in the world comes from New Zealand.”

Getting to ride one back in the day was a special event, let alone decades later. Only a handful of them still remain; Isle of Man TT racer, and TV personality Guy Martin got to sample one , and it’s interesting to hear what a rider of his caliber thinks of this very unique race bike. Check out pit lane footage from Guy Martin’s first ride on the Britten V1000 at Manfeild on 23rd December, 2014.