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Motorsport legend Mad Mike Whiddett

Motorsport legend Mad Mike Whiddett. Photo by Mark Smith.

Q&A: Mad Mike Whiddett

Kiwi motorsport legend 'Mad' Mike Whiddett talks about how he came to be one of the best in the world. 

When did your passion for cars begin?

When I was a teenager in the 90s. Every Thursday when the Trade and Exchange would come out my mates and I would race to the dairy to buy a copy, flip to the $1,500 and under section and find old Toyota Corollas, Mazda 626s, 323s or anything RWD that you could pick up for $50 to $100. We’d figure out whether we’d catch a yellow bus or skateboard or BMX to buy these cars. This was about two years before I even had a licence.

Mad Mike is a global motorsport legend.
Mad Mike is a global motorsport legend. Photo by Mark Smith.

What was the first car you owned?

My first car was a 1978 Mazda 323 bought out of the Trade and Exchange for $100. It was just a standard rear-wheel drive with a 1300 piston engine. We also found a RX7 that had been crashed and written-off. My buddy had $200, so we swapped the $200 and my skateboard for this RX7. With no-one to guide us and literally half a toolkit from Kmart that was missing a bunch of the main tools, we managed to get the rotary engine from the RX7 into the 323. I remember the hardest thing was trying to convert from a cable clutch to a hydraulic clutch.

Now, when you say your first car was a 1978 Mazda, people say ‘how did you afford that?’ because they’re so expensive. But back then all that classic stuff was cheap.

How did you get into drifting?

As teenagers we’d race around the gravel roads in Woodhill Forest. We did get in a bit of trouble, I will admit to that. But in Woodhill we’d shut the gates behind us so we knew no-one else was on the roads and just thrash these cheap RWD cars. That’s where I learned the skill and the discipline of pushing a car to its extremes.

Now, I don’t condone street racing at all. These days we have tracks scattered all over the country, I host grassroots drifting days out at Hampton Downs; we’re very fortunate in New Zealand to have so many racetracks where you can go to have fun in a safe environment. But back in the 90s that was just what we did because it was all that was available.

From there I got into the Rotary Nationals and Skidfests. I’d build cars to do the burnout competitions. For me, the burnouts were more about the show and the excitement. The drag racing was more about how much money you had to pour into your car to make it fast, but the skid comps were all about entertainment, personality and how the car was built and looked.

From a very young age I learnt the discipline of drifting, but I never once thought that it would turn into a sport and a career.

Mike Whiddett preparing to drift.
Mike Whiddett preparing to drift.
Mad Mike on the track.
Mad Mike on the track.

What do you like most about drifting?

I love that it’s the cheapest form of motorsport that you can get into. If a car is rear-wheel drive, it will drift. It teaches so many car control skills. If you’re ever in an emergency, if a car is coming towards you on the wrong side of the road or if you simply break traction in the rain and your vehicle starts to get crossed up, you’ll know what to do. If you can drift, you’ll have the instinct to counteract with the steering wheel and the throttle rather than do what most people would when a car starts sliding and either slam on the brakes or freak out and not know what to do with the steering wheel.

How have you seen the sport evolve?

Drifting has been around since cars were invented. If you push anything on wheels fast enough around a corner it’s going to lose traction and you’ll be drifting.

I’ve seen the sport really develop since the 90s and early 2000s when the Japanese guys were turning it into more of a circus and showcasing the insane speeds and precision driving with their proximity to walls and other cars. Since the early 2000s, corporate brands have got involved, wanting the exposure on cars and helmets, and now there’s massive support from many of the biggest car manufacturers, like Mazda, Toyota, Nissan and Ford. A few years ago I even partnered with Factory Lamborghini in Italy to build the craziest drift supercar I possibly could in just four weeks.

For me personally it’s evolved from a hobby where it was just me and my mates and I’d buy them a box of beers for helping to change tyres to now, where I really need to invest in the best team, as parts and cars have evolved so much.

Mike Whiddett and his customised Lamborghini.
Mike Whiddett and his customised Lamborghini. Photo by Mark Smith.
The Lamborghini drift supercar on the track.
The Lamborghini drift supercar on the track.

How did you get into competitive drifting?

I discovered a Japanese drifting DVD and thought 'damn they have a sport for this!?' I had my Mazda 808 burnout car; my wife Toni had a Mercedes show car. We sold both of those, our TV and VHS player, all of our CDs, everything, to fund building a drift car. In my first year I qualified to compete in California, which had been a childhood dream to get there for motocross. I managed to place in the top 16 in a USA vs Japan World Allstars event.

The following year I was invited to the Formula Drift Asia championship in Singapore, where I qualified first and got third overall. When I arrived home, I got a phone call from Red Bull saying: ‘We've been following you for a long time, welcome to the family.’ That was my biggest dream come true. When I was competing in FMX all I wanted was a Red Bull helmet. Now I’ve been with Red Bull for 18 years and I've received a lot more than that dream skid lid – they've helped bring many of my other visions to life. 

Mad Mike is a world-renowned drift champion.
Mad Mike is a world-renowned drift champion.

What does your schedule look like today?

It’s broken up into three parts. There’s competition. I love competing to prove that I’m still one of the best on the global stage. There’s the demonstration side, which is not only being able to showcase myself and my brand partners, but also about elevating our sport and giving it the credibility it deserves. The third part is the film shoots. That’s where I really get to express and push myself. I love fear. It’s the balance between fear and adrenaline and control. On film shoots I can really push myself to that edge.

I think demonstrations are the most exciting part, especially for people who’ve never seen drifting before. 

The expectation is that they’re going to see some donuts along the front straight, but they’re blown away when they see me drifting at more than 260km/h right next to the wall while waving to the kids on the fence.

Mad Mike Whiddett in the Mad Lab.
Mad Mike Whiddett in the Mad Lab. Photo by Mark Smith.

What do you want the young people who look up to you to know?

Maybe you’ve got yourself into trouble and think life’s over because of a stupid crime – but you can change. I was far from the perfect teenager ­– I was always in trouble with Police for driving offenses and on a rapid downward spiral. But it is possible to turn your life around. If you have the vision you're already halfway there. The rest is just hard work, determination and surrounding yourself with supportive people. 

It’s exciting that people are starting to see that there are actually careers available in New Zealand in car culture and racing. When I was at school it was all about ‘if you want to be a successful sportsperson you have to be an All Black.’ For me, I was never kicking a ball around. I had a skateboard, a BMX and radio control cars.

What motivates you?

To never stop challenging myself and never stop entertaining. Chasing that feeling of fear and adrenaline and success. Because we didn’t really have much when I was growing up, I found it really easy to level up on myself on a day-to-day basis. I still use the same mentality now and I’ve been able to build a pretty awesome career out of it.

See madmike.co.nz for more.

Story by Jo Percival for the Autumn 2025 issue of AA Directions Magazine. Jo Percival is the Digital Editor of AA Directions Magazine.