WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.540 I want you to picture something for a second. 00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:05.820 Imagine you are standing in a pristine, perfectly 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:08.839 lit automotive garage. Okay, I'm picturing it. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:12.300 And sitting right in front of you is a Lamborghini 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:17.379 Huracan. Or maybe a McLaren 650S. So we are talking 00:00:17.379 --> 00:00:21.359 elite. incredibly expensive European supercars. 00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:23.500 Exactly. The kind of machines most people would 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:25.859 treat like fragile museum pieces, like they'd 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:27.640 be terrified of getting a single scratch on the 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:30.179 paint. Oh, absolutely. Now, I want you to imagine 00:00:30.179 --> 00:00:33.340 taking one of those pristine supercars, completely 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:36.060 ripping out its original, highly engineered beating 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:39.439 heart, and dropping in... a custom screaming 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:41.840 Mazda engine. Just tearing it apart. Completely. 00:00:42.020 --> 00:00:45.219 And then you strap on this extreme ultra -wide 00:00:45.219 --> 00:00:47.520 body kit, all so you can take this beautiful 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:49.840 machine out on a track and slide it completely 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:51.859 sideways through a massive cloud of tire smoke. 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:54.460 It sounds like absolute madness, honestly. Right. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:56.640 Well, today we are getting behind the wheel with 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:59.000 the New Zealand drifting legend who actually 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.000 does this, Michael Brandon Wittit, much better 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.719 known to the world as Mad Mike. It's the perfect 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:08.959 mental image to start with because it really 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:11.299 captures the absolute audacity of his entire 00:01:11.299 --> 00:01:14.879 career. It really does. So today's Deep Dives 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:17.140 is pulling from a detailed Wikipedia archive 00:01:17.140 --> 00:01:20.799 that outlines Witte's life, his career milestones, 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:23.459 and of course his legendary garage. Yeah, and 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:26.019 we are going to explore how he went from racing 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:28.599 dump bikes as a kid to becoming a global icon 00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:31.680 in motorsport. And we'll be looking at his mind 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:34.760 -bending custom car builds. But we aren't just 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:36.819 going to list them off. No, we really need to 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:39.159 dig into the mechanical absurdity of what he 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:40.939 is actually doing here. Yeah, we're talking about 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:43.439 everything from a 1 ,200 -horsepower commuter 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:46.140 car built for Pike's Peak to the world's very 00:01:46.140 --> 00:01:48.760 first five -rotor engine. Which is just wild. 00:01:48.859 --> 00:01:51.280 The goal of this deep dive is to understand the 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:54.359 boundary -pushing ethos of Mad Mike and how he 00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:56.840 has completely redefined what is mechanically 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:59.760 possible in the world of drifting. You are a 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:02.420 lifelong gearhead who already knows every single 00:02:02.420 --> 00:02:05.980 detail of a Wankel engine. Or, you know, you're 00:02:05.980 --> 00:02:09.080 just someone listening who is curious about extreme 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:11.500 engineering and people who refuse to play by 00:02:11.500 --> 00:02:14.319 the rules. You are going to find a lot of inspiration 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:16.680 here. Definitely. Okay, let's unpack this by 00:02:16.680 --> 00:02:18.680 starting at the very beginning. According to 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.400 our sources, Mike Wittit was born on January 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:25.919 10th, 1981 in Auckland, New Zealand. Right. But 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:28.080 looking at his early days, his start in racing 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:30.659 didn't actually happen on four wheels. No, it 00:02:30.659 --> 00:02:32.780 was two wheels. Yeah, he started racing motocross 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:34.879 from the incredible young age of six years old. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.360 Six years old. That is so young. And he was seriously 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:41.800 competitive, too. By 1997, he actually placed 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:45.860 second at the New Zealand Pro Junior 85cc Motocross 00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:48.639 Champs. Wow. So it makes you wonder, how does 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:51.000 a kid on a dirt bike become a global legend in 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.340 sliding cars sideways? What's fascinating here 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:56.000 is how that specific origin story, starting on 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.900 two wheels instead of four, likely wired his 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:01.520 brain for the exact type of driving he does today. 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:04.680 How so? Well, when you are racing motocross, 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:07.099 especially from the age of six, you are developing 00:03:07.099 --> 00:03:10.919 this deep, intuitive understanding of balance, 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:14.199 weight transfer, and traction. Because you're 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:16.740 the one moving the bike around? Exactly. On a 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:18.879 dirt bike, the surface is constantly shifting 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:21.539 underneath you. You have to be totally comfortable 00:03:21.539 --> 00:03:23.780 with the machine moving unpredictably. Right. 00:03:23.860 --> 00:03:26.400 And you have to know how to control that chaos 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:28.800 using your own body weight and throttle control. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:31.159 So when you think about what drifting actually 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:34.300 is... Which is essentially intentionally braking 00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:36.539 traction. Yes. Intentionally braking traction 00:03:36.539 --> 00:03:38.939 and steering a car while it's sliding sideways 00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:41.979 at high speeds. It requires that exact same comfort 00:03:41.979 --> 00:03:45.120 with instability. That makes total sense. That 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:47.680 early exposure to the high stakes, balance heavy 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:50.520 world of motocross laid the absolute perfect 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:53.360 foundation for his vehicle control. He essentially 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:55.639 learned how to dance on the edge of losing control 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:58.180 before he even had a driver's license. That's 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:00.620 a great way to put it. And that extreme high 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:03.360 energy approach to racing has obviously become 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:05.800 his entire brand. It's literally why he's nicknamed 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:08.930 Mad Mike. Yeah, the archive notes his major sponsorship 00:04:08.930 --> 00:04:11.650 with Red Bull. And honestly, looking at his driving 00:04:11.650 --> 00:04:14.370 style, the synergy there is flawless. Red Bull 00:04:14.370 --> 00:04:17.750 is completely synonymous with extreme high octane 00:04:17.750 --> 00:04:20.329 sports. It's a partnership that really gave him 00:04:20.329 --> 00:04:22.750 the platform to take his vision to a global scale. 00:04:23.310 --> 00:04:26.209 And that vision is heavily focused on what he 00:04:26.209 --> 00:04:28.310 builds in his garage, just as much as how he 00:04:28.310 --> 00:04:30.029 drives it on the track. Let's talk about that 00:04:30.029 --> 00:04:31.569 garage, because this is where the source material 00:04:31.569 --> 00:04:35.379 gets wild. Win it. has a deeply defining relationship 00:04:35.379 --> 00:04:39.040 with mazda huge relationship he's been drifting 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.540 using maza engines since he started back in 2007. 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:46.500 his very first drift car was a Mazda 808 station 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:49.060 wagon. A station wagon. Yeah, which he named 00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:53.040 Fursty. F -U -R -S -T -Y. And that actually kicked 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.040 off a whole naming convention for him. The B 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:57.759 -U -L names. Right, he uses this B -U -L suffix 00:04:57.759 --> 00:04:59.660 for almost all of his major bills, obviously 00:04:59.660 --> 00:05:01.720 tying back to the Red Bull identity. Naturally. 00:05:01.899 --> 00:05:04.139 But before we get into the specific cars, the 00:05:04.139 --> 00:05:06.480 sources keep referencing his obsession with the 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.250 Wankel rotary engine. Oh yeah, the rotary. Now 00:05:09.250 --> 00:05:11.470 for those of us who just put gas in the car and 00:05:11.470 --> 00:05:14.110 hope for the best, what actually is a rotary 00:05:14.110 --> 00:05:16.689 engine and why is he so obsessed with it? That 00:05:16.689 --> 00:05:18.730 is the crucial question to understanding his 00:05:18.730 --> 00:05:21.730 entire garage. So most of the cars you see on 00:05:21.730 --> 00:05:24.550 the road use a traditional piston engine. Okay. 00:05:24.610 --> 00:05:27.050 In those engines, you have cylindrical pistons 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:29.970 pumping up and down to create power. But a Wankel 00:05:29.970 --> 00:05:32.670 rotary engine is totally different. No up and 00:05:32.670 --> 00:05:35.470 down? No. Instead of pistons moving up and down, 00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:38.050 it uses a triangular rotor kind of shaped like 00:05:38.050 --> 00:05:40.790 a rounded Dorito. A rounded Dorito. I love that. 00:05:40.889 --> 00:05:43.709 Yeah. And that triangle spins continuously inside 00:05:43.709 --> 00:05:46.329 an oval -shaped housing. Because the motion is 00:05:46.329 --> 00:05:48.589 purely rotational, there are fewer moving parts. 00:05:48.829 --> 00:05:51.550 So it's simpler in a way. Mechanically, yes. 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:54.139 This means a rotary engine can be incredibly 00:05:54.139 --> 00:05:57.199 compact, very lightweight, and it can rev to 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:00.759 incredibly high RPMs. Like motorcycle RPMs almost. 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:03.579 Exactly. And because it revs so high, it produces 00:06:03.579 --> 00:06:06.959 a very distinct, high -pitched, screaming exhaust 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:10.100 note, which is a huge part of the sensory experience 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:12.399 of Mad Mike's drifting. I'm looking at the list 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.259 of these core Mazda builds, and the specs are 00:06:15.259 --> 00:06:18.339 just staggering. You have MED Bu, which started 00:06:18.339 --> 00:06:21.899 as a Mazda FD generation RX -7. A classic drift 00:06:21.899 --> 00:06:25.920 chassis. But the notes say he put in a 26B quad 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:28.839 rotor, naturally aspirated engine. What does 00:06:28.839 --> 00:06:30.899 that actually mean in terms of engineering? It 00:06:30.899 --> 00:06:33.759 means he is playing mechanical god, essentially. 00:06:34.100 --> 00:06:36.639 Okay, wow. Most consumer rotary cars, like the 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:40.720 standard RX -7, only have two rotors. A 26B quad 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:43.120 rotor means he has essentially stacked four of 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:44.819 these spinning triangles together in a single 00:06:44.819 --> 00:06:47.160 engine block. Just line them all up? Right. And 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:49.860 engineering a crankshaft to connect four rotors 00:06:49.860 --> 00:06:51.879 without the engine tearing itself apart from 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:55.379 inspiration at 10 ,000 RPM is incredibly difficult. 00:06:55.540 --> 00:06:58.160 I can imagine. Mazda themselves really only used 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:01.129 a four -rotor engine in their legendary... 787B 00:07:01.129 --> 00:07:03.350 race car that won Le Mans. And he just put it 00:07:03.350 --> 00:07:05.750 in his personal drift car? Yeah. And naturally 00:07:05.750 --> 00:07:07.970 aspirated just means there are no turbochargers 00:07:07.970 --> 00:07:10.250 forcing air into the engine. It breathes on its 00:07:10.250 --> 00:07:12.329 own, which gives it razor sharp throttle response. 00:07:12.730 --> 00:07:15.149 And he constantly evolves these machines too. 00:07:15.790 --> 00:07:18.629 The text mentions that in 2017, he gave Manetti 00:07:18.629 --> 00:07:21.310 Buhl a new look, grafting on the front -end bodywork 00:07:21.310 --> 00:07:24.569 of an older RX -3. Renaming it Manetti Buhl 7 00:07:24.569 --> 00:07:27.389 .3 to acknowledge that wild combination. Then 00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:29.430 the list just goes on. Yeah. You have Beatty 00:07:29.430 --> 00:07:32.490 B. Yule, which is a Mazda RX -8 featuring a 20B 00:07:32.490 --> 00:07:35.149 three -rotor turbo engine. Right. And a Humvee 00:07:35.149 --> 00:07:38.889 Yule, another RX -7, but packing a 26B quad -rotor 00:07:38.889 --> 00:07:41.629 twin -turbo engine. But then we get to Artie 00:07:41.629 --> 00:07:43.959 Buhl. Oh, righty -bule is ridiculous. The source 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:46.639 says it's a Mazda NC MX -5. For anyone listening 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:48.860 who isn't a gearhead, that is a Miata. A tiny, 00:07:48.899 --> 00:07:50.939 lightweight, two -seater divertible. Exactly. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:53.899 And the notes here say he dropped a 26B quad 00:07:53.899 --> 00:07:56.379 -rotor twin -turbo into it. How does that even 00:07:56.379 --> 00:07:58.959 physically fit inside a Miata? It barely does. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.259 That is the genius of his team. You're taking 00:08:01.259 --> 00:08:04.120 an engine setup designed to produce massive power 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:06.839 and cramming it into a chassis designed for a 00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:09.720 relaxing Sunday drive. It's comical. They essentially 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:11.689 had to reconstruct the entire front. half of 00:08:11.689 --> 00:08:14.029 that Miata, fabricating custom mounts and completely 00:08:14.029 --> 00:08:16.370 reengineering the cooling system just to house 00:08:16.370 --> 00:08:18.990 that monster. And because he can't leave well 00:08:18.990 --> 00:08:23.000 enough alone, he made R .D. Buell Gen 2. Taking 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:26.399 that older NC MX -5 and swapping on the newer 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:29.660 ND generation MX -5 body panels while keeping 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:33.059 that massive twin turbo quad rotor setup. It's 00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:35.299 just a relentless pursuit of more power in smaller 00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:37.919 spaces. It really is. But here's where it gets 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.500 really interesting. He starts building what we 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:42.899 have to call the Frankenstein cars. Yes. This 00:08:42.899 --> 00:08:45.279 is where he leaves the Mazda chassis behind entirely, 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.399 but keeps the Mazda heart. I'm reading about 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:52.000 nimble. It is a Lamborghini Huracan. An Italian 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:55.019 supercar. It says he put a Liberty Walk body 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:58.639 kit on it, added a Fi exhaust, and has it pushing 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:02.000 800 to 900 horsepower. What is a Liberty Walk 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:03.820 kit? Why would you do that to a Lamborghini? 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:06.139 So Liberty Walk is an aftermarket company famous 00:09:06.139 --> 00:09:09.299 for their ultra aggressive wide body styling. 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:12.519 They literally take a saw to the pristine million 00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:15.460 dollar fenders of Lamborghini to bolt on massive 00:09:15.460 --> 00:09:17.360 widened wheel arches. They cut the car. They 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:19.259 cut the car. Again, it goes back to his complete 00:09:19.259 --> 00:09:22.000 disregard for traditional automotive rules. In 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:23.919 the car world, there are purists who believe 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:26.159 a Lamborghini is a work of Italian art and should 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:28.600 never be cut up. Wittit ignores that entirely. 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:31.500 He prioritizes sheer performance, personal vision, 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:34.179 and showmanship over any unwritten rules of automotive 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:37.279 purity. That makes the next car on the list even 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:39.899 more offensive to those purists. Look at McKiamac. 00:09:40.100 --> 00:09:44.539 Oh, man. This is a custom McLaren 650S. He adds 00:09:44.539 --> 00:09:47.500 a Rocket Bunny body kit. He takes the front of 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:51.460 a McLaren 650 GT3 race car and the rear of a 00:09:51.460 --> 00:09:54.759 McLaren P1 GTR hypercar. Crazy. And the engine. 00:09:55.149 --> 00:09:57.750 He rips out the British V8 and drops in a 20B 00:09:57.750 --> 00:09:59.950 three -rotor Mazda engine. I mean, you can't 00:09:59.950 --> 00:10:02.629 just buy P1 GTR parts out of a catalog. No, you 00:10:02.629 --> 00:10:05.590 absolutely cannot. The McLaren P1 GTR is a multi 00:10:05.590 --> 00:10:08.529 -million dollar track -only hypercar. Track -only? 00:10:08.590 --> 00:10:11.110 Yeah. To get those parts and fuse them with the 00:10:11.110 --> 00:10:13.389 650S chassis and then power the whole thing with 00:10:13.389 --> 00:10:16.129 a Japanese rotary engine is just automotive anarchy. 00:10:16.289 --> 00:10:18.309 It's insane. Think about the philosophy here. 00:10:18.409 --> 00:10:20.629 He is taking the lightweight, high -revving, 00:10:20.629 --> 00:10:23.490 chaotic soul of a Japanese drift car and marrying 00:10:23.490 --> 00:10:26.509 it to the aerodynamic, mid -engine, highly clinical 00:10:26.509 --> 00:10:29.230 chassis of a European hypercar. The ultimate 00:10:29.230 --> 00:10:32.769 hybrid. He is treating these elite supercar platforms 00:10:32.769 --> 00:10:35.450 exactly the same way he treated his first Mazda 00:10:35.450 --> 00:10:38.450 station wagon. They are just a blank canvas for 00:10:38.450 --> 00:10:40.470 his own madness. And we haven't even mentioned 00:10:40.470 --> 00:10:44.269 the crown jewel of the garage yet, the M8AZ 787D. 00:10:45.169 --> 00:10:47.710 7887D. Right. The source material highlights 00:10:47.710 --> 00:10:50.690 this as a custom -built drift car based on the 00:10:50.690 --> 00:10:53.470 legendary Mazda 787B race car we mentioned earlier. 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:56.460 But the engine is what makes it historic. Yeah. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:00.000 It features the world's very first five -rotor 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.559 engine. Not a three rotor, not a four rotor. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:05.960 Five. How much harder is it to add that fifth 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:08.460 rotor? It is an absolute mechanical nightmare. 00:11:08.600 --> 00:11:11.000 As we discussed earlier, linking four rotors 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:13.100 is already pushing the limits of physics due 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:15.799 to crankshaft flex and timing. To add a fifth 00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:18.139 requires entirely bespoke machining. Because 00:11:18.139 --> 00:11:20.399 it just doesn't exist. Exactly. Everything from 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:22.980 the ignition timing to the fuel delivery has 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:25.019 to be invented from scratch because there is 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:27.179 no blueprint for a five rotor engine. Nobody 00:11:27.179 --> 00:11:28.820 had ever done that before. So he just did it 00:11:28.820 --> 00:11:31.110 himself. It proves that he isn't just a driver. 00:11:31.230 --> 00:11:33.590 He is pushing the literal boundaries of mechanical 00:11:33.590 --> 00:11:36.029 engineering. I'm looking at his current project, 00:11:36.070 --> 00:11:38.129 though, and it seems like he's stepping away 00:11:38.129 --> 00:11:40.750 from the drift track entirely for a second. The 00:11:40.750 --> 00:11:43.710 car is called Bullet. Yes, Bullet. And it says 00:11:43.710 --> 00:11:47.350 it's based on a 2022 Mazda 3, like the commuter 00:11:47.350 --> 00:11:49.230 hatchback you see at the grocery store. That's 00:11:49.230 --> 00:11:51.490 the one. But under the hood, it is packing a 00:11:51.490 --> 00:11:55.889 26B quad -rotor Wankel engine, pushing a mind 00:11:55.889 --> 00:11:59.899 -boggling 1 ,200 horsepower. That is like strapping 00:11:59.899 --> 00:12:03.320 a jet engine to a shopping cart. What is this 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:05.860 car actually being built for? It is being built 00:12:05.860 --> 00:12:08.779 specifically to race in the famous Pikes Peak 00:12:08.779 --> 00:12:11.820 International Hill Climb, specifically in celebration 00:12:11.820 --> 00:12:15.080 of the race's 100th anniversary. And if we connect 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:17.120 this to the bigger picture, this is a massive 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:19.940 evolution for him as a driver. How so? I mean, 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:22.179 isn't it just driving fast? Not at all. Drifting, 00:12:22.259 --> 00:12:25.000 at its core, is a judged sport. Like figure skating. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:28.059 Exactly. It is about style, the angle of the 00:12:28.059 --> 00:12:30.320 car, the amount of smoke, and controlled chaos. 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:33.720 You are graded on how spectacular you look while 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:36.480 sliding. Pikes Peak is the exact opposite. It 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:41.299 is a legendary, terrifying hill climb up a mountain 00:12:41.299 --> 00:12:45.580 in Colorado. There are 156 turns, and you climb 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:49.179 to an elevation of over 14 ,000 feet. There are 00:12:49.179 --> 00:12:52.789 no style points at Pikes Peak. It is about raw 00:12:52.789 --> 00:12:56.350 speed, absolute grip, and precision. Plus, the 00:12:56.350 --> 00:12:58.669 air gets incredibly thin at that altitude, which 00:12:58.669 --> 00:13:02.149 starves engines of oxygen. Oh, making tuning 00:13:02.149 --> 00:13:06.169 a 1 ,200 horsepower rotary engine an absolute 00:13:06.169 --> 00:13:08.590 nightmare. A total nightmare. And worst of all, 00:13:08.610 --> 00:13:10.789 there are massive drop -offs with no guardrails. 00:13:11.149 --> 00:13:13.529 Taking a 1 ,200 horsepower rear wheel drive monster 00:13:13.529 --> 00:13:16.129 up that mountain requires a completely different 00:13:16.129 --> 00:13:18.250 clinical mindset. Like you said, it's like a 00:13:18.250 --> 00:13:19.870 figure skater suddenly deciding they want to 00:13:19.870 --> 00:13:21.809 compete in downhill speed skiing. That's a great 00:13:21.809 --> 00:13:24.070 analogy. The skill sets might overlap slightly, 00:13:24.210 --> 00:13:25.850 but the risk and the goal are totally different. 00:13:25.990 --> 00:13:27.850 But let's look at his actual trophy cabinet, 00:13:27.970 --> 00:13:29.970 because all this custom building has actually 00:13:29.970 --> 00:13:32.129 resulted in some serious hardware. Oh, for sure. 00:13:32.389 --> 00:13:34.830 According to the archive, he has a massive global 00:13:34.830 --> 00:13:38.129 footprint in Formula Drift. He competed in the 00:13:38.129 --> 00:13:42.490 US Series in 2010, 2015, and 2016. Right away 00:13:42.490 --> 00:13:44.870 in the US, he was named the most improved driver 00:13:44.870 --> 00:13:48.289 for the 2010 season, finishing 10th at the Las 00:13:48.289 --> 00:13:51.289 Vegas Motor Speedway. And his success is truly 00:13:51.289 --> 00:13:53.929 international. In Formula Drift Asia, he finished 00:13:53.929 --> 00:13:56.269 first at the Wonder World Amusement Park back 00:13:56.269 --> 00:13:59.509 in 2009. Nice. But his biggest competitive achievement 00:13:59.509 --> 00:14:02.370 came in the Formula Drift Japan Series. He was 00:14:02.370 --> 00:14:04.820 consistently strong there. He finished first 00:14:04.820 --> 00:14:07.360 at the Okayama International Circuit in 2016, 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.759 first at the Okibuki Motorsports Park in 2017, 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.519 and then he completely conquered the series in 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:15.940 2018 by winning the overall Formula Drift Japan 00:14:15.940 --> 00:14:18.279 Series championship. The sources highlight a 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:20.679 massive milestone there, too. He is the very 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:23.480 first professional Mazda driver to ever clench 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:25.440 a professional drifting championship. Which is 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:27.840 huge validation for his loyalty to that rotary 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:29.759 engine. Yeah, sticking with Mazda really paid 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.639 off. And his home country recognized him, too. 00:14:33.019 --> 00:14:36.220 In 2014, Winnit was the first New Zealand drift 00:14:36.220 --> 00:14:38.200 driver to receive an award from Motorsport New 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:40.559 Zealand for Outstanding Achievement. It is a 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.759 really impressive resume. But to truly understand 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:46.080 the Mad Mike moniker, we have to look outside 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:48.740 of his primary sport. We have to talk about the 00:14:48.740 --> 00:14:51.460 off -road wildcard chapter of his career. Oh, 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:54.059 the stadium super trucks. This may be my favorite 00:14:54.059 --> 00:14:56.200 story in the whole archive. It's so good. So 00:14:56.200 --> 00:14:59.720 2015, Winnett meets Robbie Gordon, the founder 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:02.019 of the stadium super truck series, while they 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:04.320 are both at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Okay. 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:07.019 They get to talking, and Gordon gives him an 00:15:07.019 --> 00:15:09.259 opportunity to race at the Sands Sports Super 00:15:09.259 --> 00:15:12.610 Show. Wittit ends up driving E .J. Viso's number 00:15:12.610 --> 00:15:14.870 five truck. And keep in mind, a stadium super 00:15:14.870 --> 00:15:18.090 truck is huge, heavy, and has a massive high 00:15:18.090 --> 00:15:20.570 center of gravity. It is the exact opposite of 00:15:20.570 --> 00:15:23.789 a low -slung Mazda drift car. Exactly. But he 00:15:23.789 --> 00:15:25.909 jumps in anyway. He starts second in the first 00:15:25.909 --> 00:15:28.830 race and manages to finish fourth. A highly respectable 00:15:28.830 --> 00:15:31.649 debut. But then the reality of motorsport sets 00:15:31.649 --> 00:15:34.490 in. In race two, he suffers an engine problem 00:15:34.490 --> 00:15:36.940 and has to retire from the race early. Right. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:39.559 So he's had a good finish and a mechanical failure. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:43.200 Then comes the final race of the weekend. Whitted 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:45.539 is pushing this massive truck as hard as he can. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:48.919 And what happens? He literally rolls the truck. 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:51.960 He flips it. He flips it over. But, and this 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:54.879 is the best part, he keeps going and still manages 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.179 to finish the race in seventh place. That sequence 00:15:57.179 --> 00:16:00.100 of events perfectly encapsulates exactly who 00:16:00.100 --> 00:16:03.360 he is. Totally fearless. He is relentless. He 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:05.860 is highly adaptable, jumping into an entirely 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:08.860 foreign, top -heavy vehicle format and immediately 00:16:08.860 --> 00:16:11.519 competing near the front. And most importantly, 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:14.899 he is completely unfazed by disaster. Yeah, because 00:16:14.899 --> 00:16:17.600 he keeps driving. Rolling a truck is a race -ending, 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:20.460 terrifying moment for most drivers. For Mad Mike, 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:22.340 it was just a bump in the road on his way to 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:24.820 a top -ten finish. It is that exact fearlessness 00:16:24.820 --> 00:16:26.960 that makes him so compelling to watch. He just 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:29.100 dusted himself off and crossed the finish line. 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:31.879 Speaking of being compelling, there's a really 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:34.700 funny, almost meta moment in the Wikipedia source 00:16:34.700 --> 00:16:36.659 text that we reviewed for this deep dive. Oh, 00:16:36.679 --> 00:16:39.500 the warning tag. Yes. Right at the top of the 00:16:39.500 --> 00:16:42.620 page, there is a warning tag dated February 2016. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.899 The tag states that the article may not meet 00:16:45.899 --> 00:16:48.700 Wikipedia's notability guideline for sports and 00:16:48.700 --> 00:16:51.659 athletics and asks for more sources to prove 00:16:51.659 --> 00:16:54.100 the topic is notable enough to even be in the 00:16:54.100 --> 00:16:56.580 encyclopedia. This raises an important question, 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:58.639 and it's something I want you, the listener, 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:02.639 to really think about. How do traditional institutions 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:05.759 measure legitimacy? Right, because here's an 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:08.680 athlete with massive global backing from Red 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.079 Bull. Someone who is engineering world first 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:13.799 five rotor engines, someone who literally wins 00:17:13.799 --> 00:17:16.680 international championships and cuts up million 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:19.180 dollar custom supercars. Doing things nobody 00:17:19.180 --> 00:17:21.700 else is doing. Yet a traditional encyclopedia 00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:24.059 framework struggled to categorize or validate 00:17:24.059 --> 00:17:26.819 him because drifting, at least back in 2016, 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:30.019 was still viewed by some traditionalists as... 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:32.099 an alternative or underground motorsport. It 00:17:32.099 --> 00:17:33.880 wasn't seen as a real sport by the establishment. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:36.099 Exactly. It shows how traditional organizations, 00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:38.059 whether it's classic sports governing bodies 00:17:38.059 --> 00:17:40.160 or encyclopedias, often lag behind the actual 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:43.279 cultural impact of modern extreme sports. They 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:45.160 couldn't figure out which box to put him in without 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:47.160 realizing that he was completely redesigning 00:17:47.160 --> 00:17:49.980 the box himself. Perfectly said. So what does 00:17:49.980 --> 00:17:52.299 this all mean? When you look at the entirety 00:17:52.299 --> 00:17:55.579 of Michael Witt's career, it is a massive testament 00:17:55.579 --> 00:17:58.539 to the power of specialized knowledge, constant 00:17:58.539 --> 00:18:02.019 iteration, and a total refusal to be categorized. 00:18:02.099 --> 00:18:04.440 Absolutely. He took his early balance skills 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:07.559 from dirt bikes and translated them into a revolutionary 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:11.430 drifting career. He ignored automotive purists 00:18:11.430 --> 00:18:14.829 and combined European supercars with screaming 00:18:14.829 --> 00:18:17.450 Japanese rotary engines. And he's taking all 00:18:17.450 --> 00:18:19.750 of that hard -earned knowledge to the terrifying 00:18:19.750 --> 00:18:23.009 cliffs of Pikes Peak. It makes you wonder, how 00:18:23.009 --> 00:18:25.230 can you apply a little bit of that boundary -breaking 00:18:25.230 --> 00:18:28.490 innovation to your own projects? Where are you 00:18:28.490 --> 00:18:30.630 following the purist rules when you should be 00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:32.970 dropping a rotary engine into the mix, so to 00:18:32.970 --> 00:18:36.029 speak? It's a great mindset to adopt. It is about 00:18:36.029 --> 00:18:37.950 understanding the fundamentals of your craft 00:18:37.950 --> 00:18:40.450 so deeply that you earn the right to break the 00:18:40.450 --> 00:18:42.950 rules completely. Earn the right to break the 00:18:42.950 --> 00:18:46.509 rules. I like that. Now, before we wrap up today's 00:18:46.509 --> 00:18:49.450 deep dive, there is one final lingering detail 00:18:49.450 --> 00:18:51.230 from the source material that we haven't deeply 00:18:51.230 --> 00:18:53.410 discussed yet, and I want to leave you with it. 00:18:53.470 --> 00:18:56.490 The MADSAB. Yes. Tucked away in his long list 00:18:56.490 --> 00:18:59.490 of custom cars is a vehicle called the MADSAB. 00:19:00.069 --> 00:19:03.089 It is a Mazda Loose sedan, but it isn't set up 00:19:03.089 --> 00:19:05.599 like a normal stripped -down race car. It is 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:08.400 specifically built and set up to take three passengers 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.440 at the same time. Think about the visceral experience 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:15.500 of that. Think about putting three regular people 00:19:15.500 --> 00:19:18.000 into a machine designed to slide completely out 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.700 of control at high speeds, filling the cabin 00:19:20.700 --> 00:19:22.819 with the sound of a rotary engine and the smell 00:19:22.819 --> 00:19:25.940 of tire smoke. It would be terrifying. How does 00:19:25.940 --> 00:19:28.660 physically sharing that raw, terrifying thrill 00:19:28.660 --> 00:19:31.460 with an audience change the way we understand 00:19:31.460 --> 00:19:34.559 and consume extreme sports? It's one thing to 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:36.599 watch a master at work from the grandstands. 00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:39.539 It's another thing entirely to be strapped into 00:19:39.539 --> 00:19:42.180 the passenger seat while they do it. It transforms 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:44.960 the sport from a purely visual spectacle into 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:47.740 a shared psychological experience. It completely 00:19:47.740 --> 00:19:49.759 breaks the barrier between the athlete and the 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:52.680 observer. Something to mull over as you go about 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:56.119 your day. Thank you for joining us on this exploration 00:19:56.119 --> 00:19:59.200 of Mad Mike Wittet and his incredible rotary 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:02.440 -powered world. It's been a wild ride. Keep questioning 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:04.809 the rules. Keep looking for those surprising 00:20:04.809 --> 00:20:07.269 connections. And most importantly, keep digging 00:20:07.269 --> 00:20:09.869 into your own curiosities. We will catch you 00:20:09.869 --> 00:20:11.210 on the next deep dive.