The Britten Motorcyle Company – Riding The Web

Selling “Online” General Manager of Britten, Perry Rees, comments that keeping up to date with Internet technology is in sympathy with Britten’s innovative, “high-tech” image. The Web pages allow them to effectively present current information about Britten, as well as making Britten merchandise readily available to the international and national markets. Their site has become one of the most successful in New Zealand for selling online, with a considerable number of sales generated in the first two months.

The site has already been visited by individuals from as far afield as Tel Aviv, Scott Base, Mexico, and Istanbul. However, its main audience has been in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan, all strong markets for Britten products. Perry Rees emphasises that customers who purchase merchandise are providing crucial support for the Britten company. Funds raised through merchandise sales go towards the costs of racing and development and effectively put “fuel in the tank”, as he phrases it. Prior to the secure online order-form on the Britten Web page the only avenues available to obtain Britten merchandise were through mail-order, static displays, or trackside. Among the most popular merchandise items available from the Web Site are the video “One Man’s Dream”, posters, T-shirts, and the kitset model of the Britten V1000.

Revolutionary Design The Britten factory’s achievements are almost miraculous considering its size. A core group of only five staff members is involved in all aspects of their in-house motorcycle building, which includes; research and development, design, racing, prototyping, construction, preparation of spares and the ongoing maintenance and improvements to customer owned Britten V1000s. On a tiny budget, in motorcyle terms, and using basic machinery, Britten has created revolutionary, race winning bikes. Britten’s main rivals on the race track are companies such as Ducati, with multi-million dollar development and race budgets at their disposal, who spend in a day what Britten might spend in a year. However, Britten has several longterm international sponsors: Mobil 1, ICI Autocolor, SBS and AEI, who provide valuable support.

Small scale uniqueness and quality are as intrinsic to the Britten Motorcycle Company’s identity as the flamboyant colour scheme is to the Britten V1000. Britten has produced a total of 8 hand-built bikes in the last 5 years, in comparison to the thousands developed each year by larger enterprises. Perry emphasises that Britten is in a different league to the bigger players; “Our fundamental philosophy is totally different (to that of larger companies) and we’ve got to stay within that, because it’s part of the reason we’re all here”.

Racing Achievments Britten race machines have competed in the infamous Isle of Man road race, and have won events at Daytona in the United States, Assen – Holland, Monza – Italy, Brands Hatch in the United Kingdom, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. In 1995 Britten won the 1995 Inaugural BEARS World Championship Series. In the last nine months Britten has sold two V1000s to American owners. A Britten bike and a factory entry, (totally supported from the New Zealand workshop and with a rider from Britten), will be racing at Daytona in early March. Perry Rees explains that every race is an important test-bed for new ideas and developments. A seemingly minor alteration to the bike can result in huge changes to performance and handling. Britten V1000s
will be racing at Ruapuna on February 23 and March 23, at Daytona on March 3 and 4 and at Teretonga in Invercargill for the final round of the Superbikes Series on 30 March. They are currently ranked second and are competing for their third consecutive seasons win of the NZ Superbike Championship title.

The Future Perry Rees is conscious that Britten must remain competitive as a business to ensure that Britten motorcyles remain competitive on the race track. In discussing the future of the company he says that, “The business is expanding and the Internet is an integral part of that expansion”. Judging from the success of the Britten site to date, the Britten Motorcycle Company will continue to lead online, matching their success and innovation in motorcycle design technology with similar advances on the Web.