Mad Mike Is Getting a Mental McLaren for Goodwood

Crowd-pleasing down under drift king ‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett will wow the Goodwood Festival of Speed with the most exotic sideways sensation ever seen: a McLaren P1 GTR, known as the MADMAC.

The hyper drift project is an international collaboration between British McLaren specialist Lanzante, Beverly Hillls-based luxury car dealer O’Gara Coach, and Whiddett’s New Zealand ‘Mad Lab’.

The starting point is a track-focused P1 GTR, which Lanzante has plenty of experience with, having previously converted examples to road use (at a cost of over $2 million, mind).

“The idea for the project came about after meeting Mike at Goodwood last year,” says Dean Lanzante. “He visited our stand, saw what we had on display, and we started to explore what was possible. We like to think that we build some of the most extreme cars, but Mike saw this as a challenge to take things up a level or two.”

“Lanzante has a reputation for creating some incredible cars. Being a proud kiwi, I’m inspired to push this McLaren project to the absolute limit, and then take it around the world… SIDEWAYS!” adds Mad Mike.

After initial work in the UK the MADMAC is now in New Zealand for its transformation into a drift weapon, before making its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. No technical details have been revealed as yet, but although Whiddett is famous for his amazing Mazda rotary rockets, it’s more likely that the MADMAC will retain its turbocharged V-8. The MADMAC could also be the first of Mad Mike’s machines to feature a hybrid powertrain for an electrifying power boost.

Stay tuned for the tire-smoking debut on the famous British hillclimb.