Mad Mike's MX-5: Time For Tea?

1,200hp MX-5, the Albert Park F1 track and Daniel Ricciardo as passenger; guess what happens next...

By Matt Bird / Monday, 26 March 2018 / Loading comments

You all know Mike Whiddett by now, don't you? More commonly known by his 'Mad Mike' stage name, he is one of the best known pro drifters around. Given his fondness for rotary powered Mazdas, too, it's easy to see why he's popular on PistonHeads.

He's now slithering around in a four-rotor 1,200hp MX-5, which helped him secure fifth in last year's Formula Drift Japan series. And, for one weekend only, it was used to show Daniel Ricciardo around his home F1 track ahead of the 2018 season opener.

The resulting video is nothing you haven't seen before, but that doesn't make it any less watchable. The angles the MX-5 reaches, the absurd amount of smoke and the fabulous, fabulous noise make it a perfectly pleasant way to ease yourself into the working week. Don't forget the flames, too...

Ricciardo said of his passenger ride: "It was kind of cool because there are a lot of right-left and left-right combinations where the car drifts pretty well through a lot of the corners. I feel like a lot of the track is built for drifting!" The alternative sighting laps appeared to help too, with Ricciardo securing fourth at yesterday's race. Perhaps this could become a regular F1 weekend feature? Might liven things up a tad...