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NeilBlanchard · 12-15-2009, 05:41 PM

Some of the things that John Britten (and a small group of friends and associates) accomplished in ~11 months:

Redesigned his V1000 v-twin four valve engine to be an 1100cc, hand cast all the metal parts, heat treated & machined everything, flow tested, and on the dynamometer -- where it produced 170BHP.

Designed and build a front and rear girder suspension out of carbon fiber, that bolt to the engine.

Designed the aerodynamics of the whole motorcycle and cooling system, that has an intake port on the nose of the fairing, is ducted through to the radiator which is under the tail section -- that worked the first time. All this bodywork and the seat subframe are fabricated out of carbon fiber, natch!

Designed and built carbon fiber wheels, using a unique structural scheme, that is referred to as "skin & bones".

Designed and programmed a custom computer system that recorded all the important data from the engine (unique in motorcycle racing at the time).

The list of things that they did NOT build from scratch:

brakes
shocks/springs
transmission (sourced from Suzuki, IIANM)
battery and sparkplugs and other assorted electrical components
tires
[Edit: cylinder sleeves ]

Totally amazing, really! I see a lot of parallels between the Britten and the Aptera...

12-15-2009, 05:41 PM	#9 (permalink)
NeilBlanchard Master EcoModder Join Date: May 2008 Location: Maynard, MA Eaarth Posts: 7,907 Mica Blue - '05 Scion xA RS 2.0 Team Toyota 90 day: 42.48 mpg (US) Forest - '15 Nissan Leaf S Team Nissan 90 day: 156.46 mpg (US) Number 7 - '15 VW e-Golf SEL TEAM VW AUDI Group 90 day: 155.81 mpg (US) Thanks: 3,475 Thanked 2,950 Times in 1,844 Posts	Some of the things that John Britten (and a small group of friends and associates) accomplished in ~11 months: Redesigned his V1000 v-twin four valve engine to be an 1100cc, hand cast all the metal parts, heat treated & machined everything, flow tested, and on the dynamometer -- where it produced 170BHP. Designed and build a front and rear girder suspension out of carbon fiber, that bolt to the engine. Designed the aerodynamics of the whole motorcycle and cooling system, that has an intake port on the nose of the fairing, is ducted through to the radiator which is under the tail section -- that worked the first time. All this bodywork and the seat subframe are fabricated out of carbon fiber, natch! Designed and built carbon fiber wheels, using a unique structural scheme, that is referred to as "skin & bones". Designed and programmed a custom computer system that recorded all the important data from the engine (unique in motorcycle racing at the time). The list of things that they did NOT build from scratch: brakes shocks/springs transmission (sourced from Suzuki, IIANM) battery and sparkplugs and other assorted electrical components tires [Edit: cylinder sleeves ] Totally amazing, really! I see a lot of parallels between the Britten and the Aptera... __________________ Sincerely, Neil http://neilblanchard.blogspot.com/ Last edited by NeilBlanchard; 12-15-2009 at 10:30 PM..