Mad Mike and Lanzante’s drift McLaren P1 will debut at FOS | GRR
Just when you think someone on the internet and their crazy car has reached ‘peak build’, someone else comes out of the woodwork with a hair-brained scheme. In this case, that someone else is Mad Mike, whose renowned hunger for crazy builds is now graduating into the hypercar space.
With the help of Lanzante and with the support of O’Gara Coach, Mad Mike is building a drift car out of a McLaren P1 and calling it MADMAC.
At present the car is undergoing hurried drift car prep at Mike’s ‘Mad Lab’ in New Zealand, before the car needs to be shipped over for the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard. Previously, it was undergoing preparation at Lanzante in Petersfield.
We know Lanzante has done anything and everything we thought possible with the P1 platform. This project is just proof that, well, it hasn't quite done everything yet.
“The idea for the project came about after meeting Mike at Goodwood last year,” said Dean Lanzante.
“He visited our stand, saw what we had on display and we started to explore what was possible. We like to think that we (Lanzante) build some of the most extreme cars, but Mike saw this as a challenge to take things up a level or two.”
As for what has gone into such a build? Well, it’s P1 GTR visually at least, though little else is known for now. Has a perfectly healthy P1 been sacrificed at the altar of big sends? Is it a write-off that’s now getting a second life? We have no idea whether it’s still a hybrid or indeed, whether any of the standard powertrain has been retained. Mike is a sucker for a rotary, remember.
“Lanzante has a reputation for creating some incredible cars,” Mike added. “Being a proud kiwi, I’m inspired to push this McLaren project to the absolute limit, and then take it around the world… sideways.”
More info to come but of course, it won’t be long before we see the car in person for its world exclusive Festival of Speed debut.