Speed Freaks: Mad Mike

We’re in the final lap! It’s the last week of our birthday month and your final chance to enter to win one of 10 full-throttle Hypercar experiences in some of the world’s top luxury and performance cars.

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All month, we’ve been chatting with speed enthusiasts about their love for going full throttle. Meet Mad Mike and Lincoln Whiddett, the father-son drifting duo. Mad Mike, a drifting legend, has dominated the international scene, inspiring his son, Lincoln, to follow in his footsteps. 

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Mike, you're up first.

You’re the true embodiment of a Speed Freak and you’ve had that intensity since you were very young - does this need for speed fuel any other passions outside of motorsports?

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Yeah, in my childhood I would try everything. Growing up with my solo mum, we didn't have a lot of money, however she gave me a lot of freedom. While she would ride her horse each weekend, you would find me building jumps for my BMX bike, building Radio Control cars and sending them off jumps or thrashing my old clapped out DS80 around the paddocks. I did skateboarding, breakdancing, surfing, graffiti art, a bit of everything, and I still enjoy doing most of this now - it keeps me young! Haha.

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What was the very first car you owned? 

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1978 Mazda 323. I was only 13 but back then, a car like this you could easily pick up from the Trade & Exchange for $100. Man, this was the buzz every Thursday before school, scrolling the pages at like 5am to find the next best deal.

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An absolute classic. Freestyle Motocross is responsible for your nickname, tell us what sparked your interest in racing 2-wheels at such a young age?

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Mum and I lived in a small one-bedroom unit, but every weekend we’d visit my Aunty’s farm, where Mum would ride her horse. She bought me a beat-up DS80 farm bike, which was a dream! I’d ride it hard, crash, and fix it myself since there was no dad around—I've been self-taught since then. I raced competitively through my teens, but it became too expensive for Mum to keep up with, and she hated seeing me in the hospital. So, I spent my time building Rotary Engines and swapping them into old cars.

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In 1999, I bought my own motocross bike and got invited to New Zealand’s first FMX demo at Big Day Out. It was huge! The commentator dubbed me “Mad Mike,” a name I hated at first, but it stuck and became the foundation of our brand.

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What brought on the transition to drifting and what is it about the sport that you love? 

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The transition for me was perfect timing as I had a long string of serious crashes in FMX, the last was breaking my back and being told I wouldn't walk again. Around the same time, Toni and I heard about this Drifting Championship event at Pukekohe so we went and watched. The first car that came flying down into the sweeper blazing sideways at speeds approx. 180km/h was what got me hooked instantly - I looked straight to Toni and she said "Damn you could do this!"

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Did you try your hand at any other motorsports along the way? Or did drifting have you hooked from the get-go? 

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I have fortunately been able to try many different motorsports and have managed to get some strong results in GT3's with Tony Quinn, racing the SuperSaloons, winning the NZ Stadium Super Truck class in my Rotary powered Stadium Truck, and V8 Jet Sprint boats. I just love that next challenge!

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What were the main challenges you faced coming up in drifting?

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The hardest part for us was turning it from a hobby to a career. I mean this would be a never ending story if I was to write all the challenges. Every day to me is another challenge thinking about what's next then creating the strategy and then making it reality. Toni and I work around the clock to make these things happen.

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The hardest part was early on, it was far harder to get sponsors and partnerships. Drifting was widely perceived as just a bunch of boy racers, so the challenge was getting people to come out and witness the sport in person to smell it, breathe it and be blown away with the precision driving and speeds all the drivers were showcasing.

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I was the first to show up with posters for the kids, merchandise, a website and the sort of stuff adults would come to as their kids would drag them from round to round, and obviously as companies clicked on, many of the drivers started getting decent support. I personally think the biggest boost for drifting in NZ was when Red Bull jumped onboard our program, and of course this was a dream for me but equally the sport instantly gained the credibility it deserved. The world knows if Red Bull are involved, it's freak'n serious.

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You’ve got an enviable line up of machines at the Mad Lab - MADBUL (RX7), BADBUL (RX8), RADBUL (MX5), MADCAB (Luce) and NIMBUL (Huracan). What’s your favourite machine in the fleet and why? 

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Yeah, well you listed a few of them but my favourite is MADBUL, this was my very first drift car. We’ve travelled around the world multiple times together, won some of the biggest championships and represented drifting to the elite stages of motorsport at the F1 Demo's and the Goodwood Festival of Speed. We’ve created some of the most viewed drifting YouTube clips, wrecked into walls, and spent late nights at the shop. No offer would allow this car to leave my stables.

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How would you describe your driving style, on and off the track? 

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Violent on track, terrible off track. I mean I can park damn well in a Drift Shifters competition sliding into a tight finishing box on the handbrake with only seconds to spare, but when parking at the local mall, I'll always be crooked or off to one side so half the family can't get out the car.

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You’re clearly a source of absolute inspiration for your kids. Are there any pearls of wisdom you’ve passed on to Lincoln, when it comes to racing, that you think has contributed to his competitive edge and success to date?

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He has a no fear driving style, but from his Mum, he is very calculated and always works out an amazing strategy in his own head for his racing. He needs to watch out as his little sister Jett is more competitive than both of us!

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Lookout! Which brings us to you, Linc. 

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Do you share in your old man’s RC car hobby? 

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Yep and he is great at breaking them all the time! I have some great support from Hobby City so we have quite a large range of RC toys.

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Your journey so far has seen you master a range of motorsports such as KiwiTruck, Super450 ModKarts, MX Bikes and now drifting – which do you find the most rewarding and why? 

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Well I've been racing the KiwiTrucks since I was 7 and really enjoyed racing and battling the teenagers. I love Off Road Racing because it's drifting, jumping, roosting, banging doors, rolling and getting dirty. Now drifting I've only just started but I've picked it up fast, I guess I've been driving karts and battery powered kids cars before I could even walk thanks to Dad, so I find learning the new disciplines fun. 

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You were awarded a special dispensation to race in the Super450 class at the NZ Stadium Off-road Champs in Feb this year. And you went on to win the national title and racing against the adults in the 1000cc UTV class, you absolute legend. How did that make you feel, competing against these guys and dominating? 

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It was awesome to get the dispensation to allow me to run in a class with the adults, getting to prove myself against them in their 1000cc UTV's. It was a cool event with big crowds and an amazing track prepped USA style. Dad was there racing too, he got 1st equal in the big class (but I was still faster than him in testing). It sure was a very busy day for our team to keep both our trucks flying on track.

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Well, it looks sick. How would you describe your drifting style?

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I don't know what my style really is yet as I'm just trying to link each corner together. From the clips on my Instagram, people comment saying I have Dads clutch kicking style. I try to drive like him on my driving simulator doing backwards entries and 360's everywhere, so I hope I have his aggressive style.

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What's next for you? Where will we see you next competing?

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We have events on the calendar but these are being pushed into 2022. For now, we are going hard doing an engine conversion into my MX5 (yes another Dad hand me down from his Japan based #ICEBUL so NOKIDN is going from 180hp to 500hp which excites me). We are racing to get it finished for the MM Summer BASH on Dec 4th, where I will reveal it and will be selling hot laps for people to ride with me in the cruising class.

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We can't wait to see it and will continue to follow your journey.

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