Mad Mike Whiddett is an original… would you expect anything less from someone with the word ‘Mad’ in front of their given name? Mike has a penchant for granulating Goodyears, pulverizing Pirelli’s … Mike is drifter. The New Zealander is the real deal with Red Bull backing and boost up the Ying-Yang, Mike was one of the hottest drivers at the end of the 2015 Formula Drift season.

This well-produced video from Red Bull catches up with Mike in his homeland shaking down his wild four-rotor, twin turbo RADBUL Miata drift machine in preparation for the 2016 Formula Drift campaign.

The 1,000 horsepower car was in its development stages in 2015 so it is great to see, and hear, all is well with the Mazda. The track session went down at the Highlands Motorsport Park, which is New Zealand’s most popular motorsport circuit.

Formula DRIFT will begin the 2016 World Championship season beginning with Round 1: Streets of Long Beach on April 10-11.

The World Championship will consist of a total of nine rounds of competition including eight Pro Championship rounds in the United States and Canada and two additional rounds of competition in Japan, at the drift-world famous Ebisu Circuit and in Okayama. Round 1: Streets of Long Beach marks the beginning of the season with Fredric Aasbo returning to defend his championship.

We expect Mad Mike Whiddett to be in thick of it from day one and if he can replicate his late season form from last year he could be a contender for the championship.