South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

I thought some of you might like this video. I was there, hanging out with the Raceco Guzzi crew, as I had a couple of Guzzis at the time. The Britten is the bike I would try to buy if I won the lottery; only ten were ever built, so probably impossible to buy at any price now!
The Guzzi was ridden by Paul Lewis, ex 250 GP rider, and the Brittens by Stroud and Briggs. It inspired me to start trackdays, and particularly to ride Paddock Hill Bend.
The video (awful music, turn it off!) doesn't show how Lewis changed down at the end of the straight, lap after lap, kicking the shaft drive Guzzi's back end out, causing the Brittens to back off and not attempt an overtake! Nor the standing ovation he got when he stood on the pit wall to take a bow (while the race was still on!) after he broke down. Wheelying off the start line to get to the first bend ahead of the Brittens starved the crank and caused it to fail. The team boss was not best pleased!
Anyway, enjoy, and note that Alan Cathcart (my favourite bike tester) was also in the race.
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Very good.

Great bit of engineering the Britten.

Andrew Stroud rode for us in Phase One Endurance. Very quiet chap.

Got to see the Britten in the IOM in '93 before it raced there, was doing a parade.

Saw a chalked sign outside a normal sports shop saying 'Britten here, 3:30' it was just before that time so went in & was ushered through to the delivery yard out the back. The Britten duly arrived in the back of a builders van for the dozen or so of us to look at.

Fantastically engineered, obviously so much hand made and adapted but what surprised me was how small it actually was as it looks big in photos.


Paul Lewis kept us waiting in the rain at the '87 500GP at Silverstone after crashing which stopped the race, despite that, was always a popular rider.

The Britten is the only bike poster I have on the wall. I also have the Britten video on VHS; I really must transfer it to DVD!
Never mind the bike being small, Paul Lewis is tiny! How he managed to wrestle that heavy Guzzi around was amazing. Mind you his missus (?) had give him shoulder massages after each race.

Best bit of shed engineering to be done in years. Really stuck two fingers up to the big race manufacturers.

BEARS racing would probably have different connotations now, but was a great series at the time being an extension BOTT's.
Lewis, I believe, now owns Southampton Harley Davidson.

Paul Lewis used to manage the Southampton Harley shop, and IIRC got it up and running. I heard that once it was established he got the elbow, as it was thought he was less suited to running it once it was a going concern. But I may be out of date on that, it could have all changed again. Or I could just be wrong!
He used to have a running challenge, that he could muscle a Harley round a track faster than anyone (on any bike) as long as they had never raced. £10,000 I seem to recall, but I don't know if it was ever taken up. He was terrifying on that Guzzi, though!

Yes I recall Lewie the Fly's "Harley round Mallory" challenge... A very gifted rider, but mad as a box of frogs though.