Video: Mad Mike’s 1,000PS rotary P1 drift car tears up the Festival of Speed

14th July 2024

Simon Ostler

When we heard that ‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett had enlisted the help of Lanzante to develop a brand-new drift car based on a McLaren sportscar, we knew we’d be in for quite the show when he turned up to Goodwood with it for the first time.

And so we were proven correct when he launched his new beast up the Hill at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard. It’s called the ‘MadMac’, and it’s been imbued with a turbocharged triple-rotor 2.0-litre engine producing 1,000PS (735kW), and making an absolutely incredible noise.

Mad Mike has been a Goodwood favourite at the Festival of Speed for a decade, since he first appeared on the Hill in his (also rotary engined) Mazda RX-7 drift machine.

His latest creation has a particularly remarkable creation story. Lanzante airfreighted the car to Mad Mike’s workshop in New Zealand, just 100 days before it was set to return to the UK ahead of its planned debut at the Festival of Speed.

The car was stretched out with much more aggressive bodywork, and that staggering rotary engine was lowered in place of the McLaren’s twin-turbo V8. The original transmission was retained however, so a bespoke transfer system was created to link engine and gearbox together.

By the sounds of it, the fact this car made it onto the Hill at all is an incredible effort, and to see such a unique monster in action over the course of this weekend has been impressive and entertaining in equal measure.

The 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed is underway, and you can watch every moment of the action on our live stream right here on GRR!

Photography courtesy of Jordan Butters.