Sound of thunder
John Britten Tribute
21-22 February, 2015 – Christchurch, NZ
In February I flew over with some mates from Melbourne to see the John Britten Sound of Thunder Tribute. As this event was organised by the B.E.A.R.S. Motorcycle Club, the pits were full of Triumphs, Nortons, Ducatis, KTMs, Moto Guzzis, MV Augustas, Harleys and Buells; not a Japanese bike to be seen. The organisers had 32 races across 10 classes, and multiple races for each class. The range and the number of bikes competing is impressive. There are budget racers to high-end competition bikes, classics to superbikes, and lots of NZ ingenuity. The races are extremely competitive, and in some races they had over 80 competitors – fast and with very few incidents over the two days of racing. We had come over especially to see the Britten’s, and in the Britten Marquee there are seven on display. John Britten was a founding member of B.E.A.R.S.
owned by Bob Robbins, USA, who brought it to NZ especially for the event. On the weekend, the bike was ridden by Shaun Harris, by Bob himself, and by Mark Murphy, who is the nephew of Mark Farmer, who was killed on the Britten at the Isle of Man TT in 1994.
owned by Kevin Grant New Zealand, who was unfortunately unable to attend due to illness.
from South Africa flew out specially for the event. His bike is kept in NZ and he hadn’t seen it for 14 years. He plans to take the bike to USA in October when the Barber Museum in Alabama will be hosting a special Britten Tribute at Barber Raceway. Kevin Grant and Bob Robbins plan to have their bikes there as well.
owned by the Britten Motorcycle Co.
– 1st Britten powered bike – owned by the Britten Motorcycle Co.
– owned by the Britten Motorcycle Co.
– owned by Kevin Grant, New Zealand.
Also on display were old fairings, carbon fibre wheels, engine parts, castings, moulds, drawings, and even a single cylinder proto-type engine. The Merchandise staff were doing great business selling T Shirts, posters, books, videos etc. After a good hour or so we ventured off to check out the races. Next we hear the two “Bears” Britten’s start up, well it was like bees to a honey pot, spectators came from everywhere. The noise these two bikes made is hairs on the back of neck sort of stuff. Even though it was busy there was a very relaxed atmosphere here. Next Andrew Stroud and Stephen Briggs hop on the bikes for a couple of laps around the track. Gradually the pace gets faster, and after a few laps Andrew Stroud is dropping a mono the length of the straight, and at the end of the day he does a burn out in the shape of “B”. These are the bikes that came 1st & 2nd in the first BEARS