Lanzante and ‘Mad Mike’ Whiddett, have joined forces for their most ambitious project ever – a very bold statement for both. Ambitious in its conception, its design, and its execution, the British automotive engineering experts and drift superstar, alongside the team at O’Gara Coach, will reveal what aims to be the wildest drift hypercar on earth at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2024.
Welcome then, to Project: ‘MADMAC’.
Designed around bodywork of the track-focused McLaren P1 GTR, ‘MADMAC’ will showcase what can be achieved when two expert automotive innovators combine, bringing the absolute best to this unique project. With the initial stages completed at the Lanzante workshop in the UK, the project has now progressed with the McLaren returning to the brand’s homeland. With only 100 days until ‘MADMAC’ heads back to the UK for its global debut, it is now at Mike’s ‘Mad Lab’ in New Zealand, to be given the full drift-spec treatment.
Lanzante boasts extensive experience with the iconic McLaren model, having road-converted and engineered several extreme variants, while Red Bull athlete Mad Mike has become renowned as one of the world’s best drifters, and built a variety of wild drift machines which have changed the sport. The knowledge and expertise of both parties will be pushed to the limits, combining with the team at O’Gara Coach luxury group; curators of extraordinary cars, based out of Beverly Hills, California, with the finished vehicle set to take on unique events and projects.
‘The idea for the project came about after meeting Mike at Goodwood last year. He visited our stand, saw what we had on display, and we started to explore what was possible. We like to think that we (Lanzante) build some of the most extreme cars, but Mike saw this as a challenge to take things up a level or two,’ explains Dean Lanzante. ‘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!’ added Mad Mike.
Iconic projects like teaching Formula 1 world champion, Max Verstappen to drift, and Red Bull ‘Conquer the Crown’ have Mad Mike in a category of his own when it comes to innovative and crazy projects. He has produced some of the world’s most unique drift cars, including ‘NIMBUL’ – his custom drift-specification Lamborghini Huracan – and, most recently, unveiling world first 5-rotor drift machine, inspired by one of Mike’s all-time favourite race cars – the famous 1991 Le Mans-winning Mazda 787B – dubbed the ‘Mad Mike 787D’.
More details of this wild build will be revealed across the Lanzante, O’Gara Coach and Mad Mike channels in the coming weeks. ‘MADMAC’ will then make a bold entrance at Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.
