NZ On Screen – New Zealand’s Screen Culture Showcase has a wealth of old NZ tv footage, much of which is free to watch online.
The documentary ‘Britten – Backyard Visionary’ is one such video available. Click on the link below to watch Britten – Backyard Visionary.
Te Papa has had a Britten on display for years but it was just a bike on a plinth by the cafe on the 4th floor with no supporting information or details.
A proper display has now been created about the Britten story and with several video screens, it’s still on the 4th floor.
ABOUT BLOODY TIME! Always thought it deserved this; well done Te Papa, better late then never!
The Britten company was fairly advanced on building a single cylinder motor when John passed away. Recently I brought this up on another forum and one of the other members happened to have been working with John and had details and even pics of it.
The cylinder was slanted rearwards to reduce the overall physical size of the motor, something several manufacturers now do including BMW with their 310cc single motor and Yamaha with some of their MX motors.
The Britten single was 608.2 cc and produced ~72Hp @ 9500 rpm. These photo’s show the the motor on a test bed with the Britten single cylinder and head bolted to what I’m told was a modified twin cylinder bottom end.