The 101st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb has come and gone, crowning new names atop the motorsport world.
One of these names is Kiwi 'Mad Mike' Whiddett, who broke records on Sunday as part of the Mazda team.
Whiddett was behind the wheel of an exotic, rear-wheel-drive, four-rotor, TwinTurbo Mazda3 with a whopping 1,044 kW. Mad Mike raced nearly 20 km and up 4,300 m through a brutal 156 turns to become the fastest Mazda and fastest rotary to climb Pikes Peak.
He finished the race in 10 minutes and 34.980 seconds, good for fifth in the Exhibition class and 21st overall. Those two record previously belonged to another Kiwi, Rod Millen, whom Whiddett acknowledged.
“It’s absolutely incredible... Behind the scenes, I’ve done so much study since this project came about. A huge inspiration of mine is the Millens, Rod Millen, the fastest Mazda up this hill, the fastest time in a Mazda and a rotary of 11 minutes 51," said Whiddett.
Rod Millen's son and accomplished racer in his own right, Rhys Millens, also competed in the event. He drove a 2023 BMW M8 and finished at 10:12.024, good for third place in the same Exhibition class.
It's been a long road to this success, spanning multiple years of grueling building and training with Mazda and Whiddett's Formula Drift car team.
“We pitched a Mazda and were like, ‘Let’s do a rotary.' So we did a front-wheel drive conversion to a rear-wheel drive. We built this thing to Formula Drift rules as well - that’s what we know, we’ve won that championship, and we’ve used all the parts that we use in our pro drift cars," Whiddett added.
“I think I just about lost it over the finish. I was exhausted and had run out of energy, and the car temps were about 127 degrees," Whiddett said at the end of the interview.
Take a breather, Mad Mike - you deserve it.