Mike Whiddett is living up to his 'Mad' nickname in this season's Formula D championship with this incredible MX-5 build

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I’m sure I speak for a lot of drift fans when I say that one of the biggest appeals of the scene is seeing the cool and crazy builds people come up with. So when I heard ‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett was building a drift car based on a Mazda MX-5 - using a multi-rotor engine - it’s fair to say I was excited.

Well now it’s been revealed, and as you can see, it looks absolutely bonkers. Most of the engineering work has been done by Pulse Performance Race Engineering based in the town of Whanganui, New Zealand. The guys there have crazy talent, fabricating much of the core components that hold the car together. Originally envisaged as running a 20B three-rotor engine, Mike and co. decided a four-rotor 26B was the only option after his similarly-powered RX-7 was so well received after tearing up Lord March’s driveway at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The target was 1000bhp, and at a recent dyno run the team hit 1017bhp - on a low boost setting. They’re confident the car could run 1500bhp, but balance is key over outright horsepower.

The rotors, housings and plates have all been race-prepped by the PPRE crew, but they’re all parts straight from the factory, thanks to a partnership with Mazda. The eccentric shaft is a three-piece PPRE item. Strapped to the rotary are a pair of custom-spec Garrett GTX40 turbos, chosen for their light weight and quicker, smoother power delivery compared to a single massive unit.

Shifting comes courtesy of a six-speed sequential gearbox that can be dropped out of the car with the removal of just four bolts, which make working on any issues that may arise quick and easy. The shifter sits in a suitably stripped out interior, with only the top of the dash remaining from the original MX-5. Whiddett wanted to use as many items sourced from his home country of New Zealand, so the seats are RT9009HR carbon-Kevlar buckets from NZ-based Racetech. One of the biggest problems Mike will have to overcome is the fact that the MX-5 has such a short wheelbase. At 91.7-inches (2329mm) it’s a full 15-inches (381mm) shorter than his RX-8, which will make it much snappier in the slide. To help overcome this and give Mad Mike as much control as possible, a custom-made Wise-Fab lock kit offers up crazy steering angle.