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John Britten has taken his place as a New Zealand hero since his tragically early death from cancer in 1995. He and his dedicated team in Christchurch designed and built the Britten V-twin motorcycle from scratch. For a time, this machine was probably the fastest four-stroke bike in the world. It could wheel stand at 150 miles per hour simply by opening up the throttle.
After five years of research, Tim Hanna has finally been able to give due credit to the man and his achievements. The biography details Britten's early life, the development of his vision, and the early prototype motorcycles, and then dives into the grueling cycle of hard work, set-backs, and failures before the Britten V-twin finally was able to beat the world's best. His bike had legions of fans worldwide who not only were captivated by the elegance, originality, and power of his machine, but also by the romance of his story-an individual taking on some of the worlds' biggest and best motorcycle manufacturers and winning.
This title appeals to readers both inside and outside the motorcycle fraternity because of its universally inspiring theme-that extraordinary things are possible when a person turns their dreams into reality.
About the author
Tim Hanna is the author of three best-selling biographies of notable New Zealand motorcyclists, including
John Britten. His biography of Burt Munro,
One Good Run: The Legend of Burt Munro, traced Burt's amazing land-speed records at Bonneville and was the number one best seller in New Zealand when it came out. Burt was the subject of the popular film
The World's Fastest Indian. His third motorcycling biography was the story of Kim Newcombe, a mechanic and Australasian scrambles champion who built his own grand prix motorcycle in Berlin using a German two-stroke outboard marine engine.
Kim: The Kiwi On The König records his rookie efforts in Grand Prix racing in the hazardous 1970s when, against all the odds, he achieved second place in the 1973 Grand Prix World Championship in the premiere 500cc class. Tim and his wife, Janel, live in a hundred-year-old farmhouse on an acre in the country located toward the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand. They share their property with numerous dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks. Although the nearest landmass to the south is Antarctica, the region offers superb roads, spectacular mountains, lakes, and forests, and a generous number of clear days ideal for a sporting motorcyclist. Tim gravitates to old things and is currently completing a decades long restoration of a 120-year-old, forty-five-foot motorsailer.
