Over two decades ago, a virtually unknown Kiwi with a love for riding motorbikes would travel to Europe with nothing but a bag on his back. The 19-year-old had a dream but wasn't sure where to begin, so he embarked upon a good old-fashioned door knock to anyone and everyone he could think of in the industry.
It wasn't long before he found out the home address and contact number of the Head of Yamaha at the time. "I drove 300 miles and met this guy and showed him my CV. I tried to tell him I was the greatest rider in the world and he replied politely, 'it's nice to meet you and we'll be seeing you some time."
Surprisingly, the keen motorcyclist would get a phone back only a few weeks down the track with a request to travel over to Holland to join the Netherlands Riding team. He would be required to ride a 600 for part of the season. "One of the riders had broken his leg in Spain doing a test and they needed a replacement."
Young Stephen Briggs was on his way to become one of the world's top International motorcycling legends, but he just didn't know it yet. "I was reasonably persistent and must have sold him a good story," he laughs.
Briggs would go on to do three events for the Netherlands YAMAHA team during the 1994 and 1995 seasons. He then returned to New Zealand for a short summer stint to carry on racing and travelled back to Europe where it was a lot easier to break in. It wasn't long before he received a fax asking if he would like to ride for Cafe Racers and Superbikes (CR&S ) Britten. The company, which was founded by Roberto Crepadli in 1992, was in fact, the first international customer of New Zealand motorbike designer and builder, John Britten.
Briggs knew how significant this offer was and promptly got on the phone with Crepaldi, who asked him to travel over to Italy to meet the management team.
Crepaldi was the son of the CEO of Crepaldi Auto - the largest Italian dealership of Ferrari vehicles, and he owned a huge estate in a gated community near Milano. The meeting went well and Briggs was instructed to race in the first round of their world B.E.A.R.S compitition on a track in Thruxton in the UK. On his way to England, he was introduced to another big wig in the motorcycling world known as Alessandro, "He was in his 70s and he spoke about three words of English. He looked like a Mafia boss and he spent most of the trip letting me know that I didn't need to worry and that they had their factory rider, Andrew Stroud available, I would just be a back-up rider."
The pressure was now on to really prove himself. Although he had never ridden the track or a Britten before, the track was very similar to that of Pukekohe. It helped him feel at ease and he managed to both beat his personal best time and put the bike in pole position first time out. He got back off the bike and walked over to Alessandro.
"I'll never forget it as long as I live. He was sitting in the back of the pits, on his cane chair, with sunglasses on and a hat, looking like someone out of the Sopranos show and he just said 'Bravo Mr. Briggs, Number one."
During the season, Briggs would ride the Isle of Mann twice in 1995 and 1997 and although it looks dangerous from the outside, he would often find it lacked the excitement that he needed. "You are often riding by yourself and barely see anyone. There is no interaction with other riders and you just spend a lot of time travelling through narrow country roads, which at high speed are like tunnels! “
From the outside, the track is bumpy and the bikes need to be robust to keep up. "When you are in fourth, fifth or sixth gear, with the RPM going flat out, it's more of a test of the bike than the rider. For the bike builders, it is more of a matter of testing their chassis and engines and making sure that they can keep up with the pace. Certainly, as far as the bike goes, this was the most strenuous track to ride."
Although his career has been varied, he will always have a soft spot for the Britten bikes. "One of the most alarming things was that when we finished The World Superbike Support race and were back in the pits, the factory mechanics from Ducati, Honda, and Yamaha left their teams and came over to look at the Britten bikes. They were meant to be finishing their work but the Britten had such a big pull, they couldn't help themselves."
Briggs admits that the Britten bikes were way ahead of their time and while most bikes slowed down on the corner, Britten had designed his bikes to uniquely handle the corners. “The Britten manoeuvres at 200 km an hour the same way as if you are pushing it around the garage.” There were a lot of reasons behind this mainly in how the engine was positioned. Most motorbikes are affected by the crankshaft gyroscopic effect which slows the ability to move the bike at high speed through corners. The Britten does not get affected by this and therefore has a major handling advantage over its competition. “You are not fighting as much of it as the likes of a four cylinder super bike."
The bikes also included data logging where you could plug a laptop in and move the fuel about and play with the ignition. "You could decide for yourself where the fuel was needed and that small function has only just become available on the competitor's bikes. Not even some of the most seasoned riders knew about this clever function - maybe only myself and Andrew Stroud."
The bikes also started the trend towards fuel-injected engines, rather than carburetted. "Britten said no, outright, to carburettors and stuck with fuel injection. His persistence paid off because he was right and while we take things like that for granted now, it was out of the ordinary over 20 years ago."
Just over two decades after the first Britten was built, there are only 10 bikes left in the whole world. One is part of a display in Wellington's Te Papa museum and the rest are privately owned. Only two of these bikes are still run around the track, one is owned by American Bob Robbins and the only NZ-owned bike is kept in pristine condition by Kevin Grant.
With such a small amount of bikes produced and no future plans for a Britten revival, each vehicle is priceless. "Most owners say there is no monetary value because if they got written off or stolen, they cannot be replaced."
The two owners are insuring to futureproof the Brittens and have been working with all of the original repairers. "The bikes are still refurbished by one of the original mechanics. There's a whole list of people who are happy to work on the bikes all these years later."
Plans are in the pipeline to continue demonstrating the two bikes for another couple of years. "Three years ago I never thought I'd see these bikes, in fact we are allowed to ride them as hard as we like because they are kept in such immaculate condition. It's a great franchise with a lot of passionate people involved."
