Mad Mike Whiddett’s car-building and tyre-burning exploits want no introduction, particularly on this little nook of the web. What you may not know, is the place it began. For that, we have to step again to 2004.
At this level, Mike had already been enjoying round with Mazda rotary engines for over a decade – effectively earlier than he might even receive a driver’s licence in New Zealand – all of the whereas dwelling as much as the ‘Mad’ moniker bestowed upon him in freestyle motocross. Mike and his buddies had been frequently rotary re-powering vehicles, which whereas typically considerably tough in execution had been greater than efficient for his or her supposed function: swinging doughnuts in industrial areas late at evening.
The recipe was easy: the most cost effective rear-wheel drive automobile he might get his palms on; a bridge-ported (minimal) rotary engine swap; a locked diff; chopped and blocked springs; 13-inch chrome Modular (Modgie) metal wheels; rattle can paint jobs (camo a favorite); mirror tints; and Mike’s now-iconic ‘Rotang Klan’ graffiti insignia.
When Mike wasn’t getting as much as no good on the streets, he was getting into each native burnout competitors he might, which ultimately led to the creation of his final skid machine – a 1976 Mazda 808 station wagon, higher identified by its personalised/self-importance licence plate, FURSTY.
The 808, which was offered because the Grand Familia in Japan, was the four-cylinder model of the rotary Savanna RX-3. Whereas RX-3s and 808s in coupe and sedan type had been offered new in New Zealand within the ’70s, the one wagon on supply was the piston-powered 808.
That made them ripe for a rotary engine conversion and, like FURSTY, a real RX-3 front-end facelift.
In its last and most well-known unique type, FURSTY was powered by an Alec Bell-built, naturally-aspirated 13B peripheral-ported engine with a Weber IDA carburettor and Ok&N air filter poking out of the hood. It was loud, highly effective, and undoubtedly acquired the job achieved, taking Mike to quite a few New Zealand burnout competitors wins.
If there’s one win that stands out above all others although, it’s Skidfest 2004. If anybody within the native modified automobile scene didn’t know of Mad Mike earlier than that occasion, they definitely did afterwards. Fortunately, the in-car video footage nonetheless exists, and you’ll test it out by hitting the play button above.
The next yr, and on the again of his burnout competitors exploits, Mike entered the drifting world with an FD3S Mazda RX-7 that might later be often called MADBUL, and the remainder is historical past.
Though sponsorships got here shortly, the price of competing meant bank cards had been maxed out, and something that could possibly be offered to fund Mike’s drifting dream was. That included his blue 808 wagon. Whereas Mike has in all probability misplaced rely of the vehicles he has constructed since promoting the wagon in 2005, the thought of making one other by no means escaped his thoughts.
The blue 808 modified palms a number of occasions after Mike offered it, and though he as soon as had a possibility to buy it again for subsequent to nothing as a rolling physique resprayed white, the timing wasn’t proper then. However final yr, on the again of an thought to contest Japan’s 2024 D1 Grand Prix Worldwide Drift Championship in one thing old style, it most undoubtedly was.
Fortunately, the then-current proprietor of the 808, who had restored the wagon to its 2004 look, was prepared to half methods with it so the subsequent chapter in its Mad Mike historical past could possibly be written, albeit 20 years after the final. With the 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon deadline to fulfill, there was zero time to waste.
Stripped down, FURSTY was wheeled 100 metres from the MADLAB to IMR Fabrication, the place Ryan Johnson spent two strong weeks engaged on it, first 3D-scanning and mapping the Mazda for a customized Rocket Bunny physique equipment, after which finishing all of the customized chassis work. That included c-notching the rear for an efficient 150mm (6-inch) physique drop, fabricating a brand new transmission tunnel, and mounting an entire first-gen Mazda MX-5/Miata IRS setup. The latter was a vital improve that has offered the 808 with a contemporary and fully adjustable impartial rear suspension – that includes KW/ST short-stroke coilover shock absorbers and Destroy Or Die drop knuckles – with good geometry on the wagon’s super-low trip top.
After becoming a Radium Engineering gasoline cell, surge tanks and pumps, a Bulldog XR-420i quick-change differential and axles from The Driveshaft Store, Mike’s last act on Kiwi soil was slicing the rear quarters and trimming the again doorways to accommodate the elevated monitor and far wider wheel and tyre mixture. We’re speaking an additional 180mm added to the 808’s width on all sides.
Two and a half weeks later, FURSTY arrived in Japan, permitting Taisuke Kawato and his staff at Whole Automotive Produce Magic in Kobe to leap headfirst into the construct. After an FIA-spec roll cage was constructed and the engine bay was prepped for its new coronary heart, Kei Miura was on website to suit the Katayama Racing-inspired Rocket Bunny overfenders, entrance chin spoiler and an upswept aluminium rear wing.
The entrance suspension and steering had been additionally addressed, with Jay Duca from Low Requirements in Australia coming by with a modified RX-3 cross-member, earlier than a Toyota AE86 steering rack, Techno Toy Tuning (T3) and Automotive Manufacturing unit Ai arms, T3 tie rods and knuckles had been added into the combo. Wilwood brakes function entrance and rear, as do customized Rotiform 15-inch wheels – 10 inches large on the rear – wrapped in Toyo Proxes R888R rubber.
In comparison with the tyres utilized by different D1GP groups, these on FURSTY are tiny, however there aren’t any deficiencies within the power-to-weight stakes. The compact 808 may be very mild, and the customized TCP Magic 26B four-rotor engine produces round 700whp with nitrous oxide and 600whp off the gasoline. All that energy will get to the rear finish through an HGT 6-speed sequential gearbox.
With EFI {Hardware} quad throttle physique gasoline injection and Haltech engine administration (now Nexus R5), that is primarily the identical 26B setup that was used within the TCP-built JAPBUL RX-7… with giggle gasoline on high.
Inside, Mike has retained some nods to the previous together with his unique aluminium dashboard and gauges – together with a 5-inch AutoMeter Auto Gage ‘Monster’ tachometer – whereas embracing the current with a Bride seat, Tonnka pedal field, ASD hydraulic handbrake, Haltech CAN keypad, and a Haltech digital show mounted on a Woodward steering column forward of his personal signature sequence NRG wheel.
When Toby visited TCP Magic to shoot FURSTY, Kawato-san was placing the ending touches to the wagon forward of its very first D1GP drift competitors outing – rounds 1 and a couple of of the 2024 championship, which had been held back-to-back at Okuibuki Motor Park in Shiga Prefecture. Sadly for Mike and his Toyo Tires x Pink Bull TCP Magic staff, even a strong 90.08 scoreline in Spherical 1 qualifying wasn’t sufficient to make it into the battles, whereas moist situations in Spherical 2 qualifying examined the boundaries of the recent setup. However with essential information to attract from and loads of promise within the chassis, it is going to be cool to see how far Mike and Kawato-san can go along with it.
Not that anybody is underneath any phantasm about its championship-winning potential; that’s not why FURSTY has returned. It’s about Mad Mike coming full circle with the now near-50-year-old Mazda station wagon that helped jump-start his drifting profession 20 years in the past, and preserving the custom of ‘placing on a present’ entering into his OG skid automobile. What’s to not love about that?
Brad Lord
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Pictures by Toby Thyer
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