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Britten - Backyard Visionary

Television (Full Length) – 1994

...the project constantly rides the narrow line between the revolutionary and the disastrous.
– Narrator
It seems there's no stopping the bike, in a touch of absolute arrogance Andrew [Stroud] does a wheelstand alongside the leading Ducati.
– Narrator Karen Elliot Best, commenting on the bike's attention-grabbing debut at Daytona
[New Zealanders]'ve always recycled things. It wasn't trendy in the old days. It was just part of our natural habit.
– John Britten
The New Zealander who stood the world of racing-motorcycle design on its head.
– Guggenheim Museum curator Ultan Guilfoyle, on John Britten
...in New Zealand's history we've always had to either make something or fix the thing you've got. We've always been 12,000 miles away from any spare part. So the ability of Kiwis to manufacture and build things and keep things going and repair things has been a New Zealand tradition…
– John Shand, from the International Motorcycle Federation
Across the world the competition are using computer modelling and entire design teams. John's doing it by guesswork and imagination, relying again and again on an ability to make whatever's near at hand work for him.
– Narrator Karen Elliot Best, on redesigning Britten's bike for Daytona

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