The Battle of Britten
Michael Drohan
"Producing your best work, sustainably, is about the space between the work." | Senior Digital Marketer Turned Changemaker | Mindful Productivity Evangelist | Breaks Lover
In 2008 Motorcycle journalist Alan Cathcart wrote*:
“It's incredibly ironic that instead of Europe or Japan, the most sophisticated and technically advanced motorcycle in the world comes from New Zealand".
In the early 90’s, John Britten and his small team did the sort of bat-sh*t-crazy-epic-batting-above-weight-thing that New Zealanders are renowned for: they built a world-beating motorbike, from scratch.
This motorbike aka ‘Britten V1000’ went on to win world titles like Battle of the Twins, Daytona, USA. It also won the hearts and minds of a generation. Mine included.?
They hand built every single part of that motorbike.
The wheels.
The engine.
The exhaust system.
The whole she-bang.
Alchemised from dreams and wild ingenuity in a shed in New Zealand.?
The Britten produced 120 kw and weighed 145 kg which … = a power to weight 0.083 kW/kg (0.05 hp/lb)
In 2016, a Formula One (F1) car had a power-to-weight ratio of 1.05 kW/kg and was able to accelerate from 0 – 100 km/h in 2.4 seconds.
The Britten motorbike made F1 cars look slow.
PAUSE
This radical Kiwi Ghost Rider went on to beat the best bikes in the world, produced by the largest and best funded manufactures at the time: amazing.?
领英推荐
John bested crippling dyslexia. Needing to have exam questions read to him and his answers recorded by a writer, throughout his entire education: triumphant.
John passed at the age of 45 due to (likely) preventable skin cancer: tragic.
I’ll never be able to create a Britten V1000.
But each and every day I fight my own Battle of Britten.
To create, learn, struggle, overcome and in doing so; to triumph.
Be your EPIC!
Lest We Forget ??
*Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britten_V1000#:~:text=Motorcycle%20journalist%20Alan%20Cathcart%20wrote%20in%202008%3A
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Digging Doing Epic Stuff?
Down with my mission of more people pursuing their extraordinary, more of the time?
Be your EPIC
We out. ??