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Posted
Nov 12 2009, 02:42 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 14 comment(s)
Mad Mike Whiddett has been on quite the roll lately. After taking the NZDrift championship in his home country, he traveled to Thailand last weekend for the inaugural Formula Drift event there. Driving his tried and true Madbul RX7, Mad Mike defeated Ryuji Miki to take the top podium spot in Thailand. Veteran driver Tengku Djan took the final podium spot.
Mike is working on a full update from the event, and we look forward to seeing it.
-Mike Garrett...
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Posted
Nov 02 2009, 04:32 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 17 comment(s)
Heading into the final round of the NZ Drift Series I was sitting in 2nd place and there was only 22 points separating me from the championship leader Gaz Whiter. For me to take the title it meant I needed to finish one spot ahead of Gaz and qualify 2 spots ahead to claim the championship. My sights were set high to qualify 1st and finish 1st and I was super confident to make this happen. Pukekohe being my favorite track with the infamous entry "widow maker" sweeper which is a 5th gear full throttle 200+kmh corner! The judges had really asked for carnage when they announced they want us to run a new line, and made it an outside clipping zone around the entire sweeper....
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Posted
Oct 20 2009, 01:25 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 11 comment(s)
The final round of the NZDrift series was held last weekend at Pukekohe Raceway. After his fourth consecutive 1st place qualifying score, Mad Mike Whiddett came up with a second place finish - more than enough to claim the season championship.
Congrats to Mad Mike and his team!
We look forward to hearing more about this event from him soon.
-Mike Garrett...
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Posted
Sep 09 2009, 12:55 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 26 comment(s)
Only two weeks out from the D1NZ finals, we were scheduled to be at Taupo Motorsport Park for round 3 of the NZDRIFT series. After a 2nd and a 3rd placing at the opening rounds I was ready and confident to stand tall at this round after the changes we had made to the RX8. The car has improved so much in only 4 competitions....
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Posted
Sep 07 2009, 03:55 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 11 comment(s)
The mid-way point of the NOS Energy NZ Drift Series in association with NAC Insurance saw competitors head to the central North Island circuit of Taupo Motorsport Park. Two rounds into the series, Gaz Whiter had established a solid lead in the championship run. However, hot on his heels was Mad Mike Whiddett. While the day dawned dry, no sooner had battles started that the conditions shifted from damp, to monsoon-esque. Round three added a new dimension to the Taupo section, with drivers asked to...
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Posted
Aug 31 2009, 11:19 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 21 comment(s)
Here's a quick photo that Mad Mike Whiddett just sent over from the third round of the NZ Drift Series at Taupo Motorsport Park. After earning second and third place finishes earlier in the season, Mad Mike defeated Carl Ruiterman this weekend to take his first victory of 2009. So far It's been an exciting for year for Mike, who's been competing in both New Zealand and in D1GP Japan.
Hopefully we'll have the chance to see him in the USA again soon!
-Mike Garrett...
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Posted
Jul 14 2009, 01:36 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 14 comment(s)
It's now starting to hit winter in New Zealand, the weather was pretty poor the day/night before round two of the "NZ Drift Series in association with NAC Insurance ", and when we turned up to Pukekohe Park Raceway, Auckland it was wet. The track dried towards the end of the practice sessions, but there were big puddles on the inside of the sweeper at the start of the judged section. Ordinarily, entry speeds would be in excess of 180kph, but the bitterly cold day and the wet track combined...
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Posted
Jun 30 2009, 09:30 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 22 comment(s)
Over the last month or so we have seen two drifters from abroad come to Japan and compete in the D1 Grand Prix. First up it was Federico Sceriffo, the Italian driver who was showing off his stuff at the Odaiba exhibition rounds in May and this time over in Okayama we got another surprise. Back at Ebisu for the opening round of the 2009 Championship I had heard that Mad Mike was planning on coming over to Japan and competing in D1. The idea was to ship the car over in time for the Okayama twin-round...
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Posted
Jun 12 2009, 05:19 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 1 comment(s)
Another day, another drift video.... this time we get a window in on the latest action from the NZ Drift Series. Tx to Gray from NZ Performance Car mag for sending it over!
:R
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Posted
Jun 11 2009, 09:15 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 23 comment(s)
Earlier this week Mad Mike Whiddett debuted his new RX8 drift car in New Zealand, letting our buddies at NZPC get first dibs on shooting this beast. The outside of the new car looks very similar to his RX7, with a wide BN Sports kit and of course the Red Bull graphics. In proper Mad Mike fashion, the wheels are Work Equips that are nearly as wide as they are tall. Under the hood is a three-rotor 20B fed by an HKS T51R turbine - something a bit different from the 4-rotor NA mill in the FD.
At the moment the Madbul FD is being shipped to Japan, so the RX8 will become Mad Mike's primary vehicle back home in NZ. We'll be keeping an eye out to see how Mike and the new car do in the NZ Drift series this year.
Thanks again to the NZPC and NZ Drift Series crew for the scoop.
-Mike Garrett
...
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Posted
May 21 2009, 02:05 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 15 comment(s)
It's been a good a while since we've ran any pro drifting coverage from New Zealand, so we thought you might like to see some of the action from last weekend's NZ Drift Series opener at Manfeild Circuit. All of the familiar faces from the New Zealand drift scene were there to compete, including Mad Mike Whiddett in his Madbul FD and Gaz Whiter in his S14 Silvia. As usual, credit for the photos goes to Brad Lord and our friends at NZ Peformance Car Magazine....
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Posted
Apr 06 2009, 10:14 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 5 comment(s)
Some good times in New Zealand as Mad Mike and the rest of the Kiwi drifters get down at Waikaraka during the second round of the 2009 D1NZ series.
Everything just looks so...easy going.
Thanks to Olly for sending us the video.
-Mike Garrett
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Posted
Mar 25 2009, 12:02 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 33 comment(s)
Up until this year it was always the Japanese that were going overseas to expose the world to their drift culture, but 2009 looks like it will be the year when Japanese drifters and drift fans will finally get a taste of international drifting on their home turf. We already saw Vaughn Gittin Jr. bring his all-American V8-powered madness to Japan earlier this month, and we have just heard that another high profile international drifter will be appearing in the land of the rising sun. New Zealand's...
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Posted
Mar 10 2009, 12:47 PM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 4 comment(s)
Mad Mike Whiddett's crazy wide body RX7 has been featured a few times on Speedhunters. While this iconic FD has many fans around the world, it appears Mike has a new build brewing for the 2009 New Zealand drift season...... At the final round of the 2008 NZdrift series, Mike attempted to compete in a show room stock spec race RX8 ..... It was just to get a feel for the car before it was be dismantled...... Now Mike and his team are working hard to get this RX8 ready for the 22 nd of March for...
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Posted
Jan 30 2009, 02:00 PM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 5 comment(s)
Here is a nice little clip from round 1 in the most recent D1NZ competition. You will see almost all the cars that Rod featured in his story on the drift cars at the 4&Rotary Nationals. A real nice compilation and I'm sure you will agree with me that the level of drifting is very high.
-Jeroen Willemsen
D1NZ
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Posted
Dec 11 2008, 02:03 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 1 comment(s)
Some people absolutely love the holiday season... others, find this time of year to be a bit depressing and hollow... Me? Well, I'm really excited about getting a lot of extra sleep and staying horizontal for as much of the day as possible tbh (!)... I like to take advantage of this quiet time to reflect on the events of the past year and look ahead to the coming 12 months. It's also a time to thank my friends, family and special collaborators for all their support and energy. So with this...
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Posted
Nov 26 2008, 04:32 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 13 comment(s)
I got an email today from Brad Lord of NZ Performance Car Magazine, and he gave me the scoop on Mad Mike Whiddett's new drift car. Wait, didn't Mad Mike just debut his new Madbul RX7 a few months ago? Yes, but now he has another new car. This weekend was the final around of the Stil Vodka Drift Series in New Zealand and Mad Mike appeared in his new drift car project, the Mazda RX8 pictured here. His four-rotor RX7 was still in the USA after the Red Bull drift event....
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Posted
Oct 06 2008, 04:16 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 4 comment(s)
Kiwi drifters have really been making splashes on the international scene lately with Adam Richards competing in the EDC , JT Wharerau driving in Formula D, as well as all the wild car builds coming out of the country, including Mad Mike's new RX7 which will also be appearing at the Long Beach Red Bull event. The most recent round of the Stil Vodka NZ Drift Series was held at the Powerbuilt Tools Raceway in Ruapuna and it marked the competition of debut of a few new vehicles. Thanks to Brad Lord, Sophie McMillan, and Luke Carpenter of NZ Performance Car Magazine we have some photos and info from the event......
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Posted
Sep 25 2008, 06:55 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 2 comment(s)
Just noticed that a few pics of Mad Mike's wild Red Bull FD drifting at Ruapuna in New Zealand, are up on Flicker. I can't wait to see this car in the flesh at Long Beach! More pics on Flicker here . :R
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Posted
Aug 29 2008, 09:18 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 28 comment(s)
If you are even somewhat familiar with the international drift scene, then you probably know about Mad Mike Whiddett from New Zealand and his infamous RX7. If you need a refresh, you can check out the feature I did on his car a while back. Those old specs on his car are now history though because on Friday night New Zealand time, Mad Mike unveiled his new car which is now sponsored by Red Bull. Thanks to our friends Brad Lord and Adam Croy at NZ Performance Car Magazine, we have some fresh photos...
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