KEY POINTS:
He's broken "way too many" bones on two wheels, and now gets his adrenalin fix in the high speed world of drifting. East Auckland racer 'Mad Mike' Whiddett has been invited to represent New Zealand at the first round of the Formula Drift championship in Singapore.
He has
put his 350 kW Mazda RX7 race car on a ship to the event, which will be held on a specially set-up course at the Singapore air show grounds on April 27.
It's the first time a Kiwi has been invited to race in the series, which is the one of the highest profile drift championships in the world.
Whiddett got his nickname with stunts like jump records on tiny 50cc pit bikes and scoring "best jump" and "best crash" awards in freestyle motocross at events like Auckland's massive Big Day Out festivals.
Now, he's sent his 1996 Series 6 (FD3) Mazda RX7 ahead of him to Singapore, aiming to take on the might of professional drifting teams from the USA, Singapore Malaysia and Japan.
It's not the first time Whiddett has competed overseas. In 2007, he competed in the D1GP championship in California, qualifying with 98 and 99 points scores; he also placed in the top 16 in the World Allstars competition at the same event.
Whiddett's Castrol-backed Mazda RX7 runs a race prepared 20B triple-rotor peripheral port engine with custom-designed fuel injection.
The engine build, like the car itself, has been focussed purely on its competition purpose.
Every non-essential bracket or strand of wiring around the engine and throughout the car has been removed. Even the engine's belt-driven water pump has been removed and replaced with an electric version in the pursuit of ultimate power.
The engine produces 350kW and revs to 11,000 rpm, doing the job without forced aspiration but still holding its own against more powerful turbocharged custom-built engines used by drifters in the US.
The car also does without the sophisticated antilock brakes the standard road car features - in fact if the standard Mazda system was still on board the car would be almost impossible to set up in the long, tyre smoking slides that characterise the best in the sport.
Mad Mike is accompanied by 21-year-old Jason Sellers on the Goodyear Tyres-backed trip.
Jason is a relative newcomer to the sport, having only competed for a year. He won the final round of the NZ Drift series at Pukekohe in his 'On the Limit' Nissan Laurel.
The Formula Drift championship - the first to be filmed for American pay television - is now in its fifth year.
It was the first in the sport to have been the subject of its own video game thanks to its relationship with gaming software company EA Sports.
It is also the first series in the US to have attracted works support.
Globally, drifting may well be the fastest growing branch of motorsport.
Formula Drift is leading the way with the most diverse driver fields in the sport, and international sports promoter IMG is now behind the series. There is now talk of running a full world championship event at the end of 2008.
If that happens, Mike Whiddett will be doing his best to be on the invitation list.
