Video: ‘Mad’ Mike lays down some rubber on the Franschhoek Pass

By Miles Downard

We’ve all heard of magic Mike, but ‘mad’ Mike of New Zealand is bringng a different kind of magic to our internet screens. You see he’s a drifter, the kind of person who prefers looking out the side window of a car rather than the windscreen. It’s not a massively popular past-time here in South Africa – or not just yet anyway – but ‘mad’ Mike’s recent exploits around Franschhoek will hopefully generate a bit more interest.

‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett (his fullname) was in Cape Town and Johannesburg recently to feature as the main attraction at the ‘Wheels of Fury ‘and ‘Supadrift’ events. His trip to Franschhoek to create a short film entitled ‘Conquer the Cape’ was largely kept under wraps.

Franschhoek Pass, known for its tight hairpins and steep drop offs, was closed for the project and under very strict control. In the film Whiddett put his Mazda RX8, dubbed the ‘BADBUL’, through its paces as he attacked the corners of the pass reaching speeds of 248km/h.

“The drive itself was just crazy,” Whiddett commented of the pass. “I can compare it a bit to ‘Conquer the Crown’ – a very successful project we did back in New Zealand that was a game-changer for drifting because of the credibility the sport got for the precision driving (which has amounted over 5 million views on YouTube to date). The scenery is very similar, but this road was far more raw, with massive cliff-drops and not much run-off. Not much space for error.”

The BADBUL, which travelled directly from the UK to South African shores, is one of five cars in Whiddett’s stable and pushes some 800 horsepower to its tyres. “You know it is one thing with drifting to have heaps of power, but we actually have to have that much power to overcome the amount of grip,” Whiddett explains. “As much as drifting looks like it’s all about just having heaps of power and no grip, it’s actually quite the opposite.”

The film also features South African hip hop muso uSanele’s track ‘Zengenkani’ as its soundtrack. The track features uSanele’s fellow Boyznbucks member Stilo Magolide and speaks of arriving with an attitude and by force: “The track loosely translated means: we’re here – come hell or high water. Whether they heard us or not, they hear us now,” says uSanele. The energy of the track pairs perfectly to the fast-paced action of the edit.