We've long known 'Mad Mike' Whiddett to be a bit ... unhinged. His cars are some of the most off-the-wall, intricately produced beasts in the world of drifting. And, all of them have been rotary-powered Mazdas.
But, that's about to change.
Whiddett and Lamborghini yesterday announced a new partnership that will see Whiddett and his team of Kiwi-based 'Madlab' engineers build a drift car based on a Lamborghini Huracán. It's currently early days, but Whiddett has said that the Italian stallion will make its big debut at next year's Goodwood Festival of Speed.
"A new and epic journey starts right here," said Whiddett on social media.
"As I trace my fingers over this iconic emblem on the steering wheel, I realise the full extent of all it means to the team at Lamborghini in Italy who have welcomed me on board.
"I’m beyond stoked to show you this MM Huracán dream build as it comes together. [...] I can’t wait to get stuck into it."
As far as we can tell, it'll be the first Huracán-based drift car on the planet. However, that doesn't mean it's the first Lambo drift car proper. Japanese slideways star Daigo Saito campaigns a Lamborghini Murcielago, among his star-studded and eclectic drift-car fleet.
The next question now, of course, is what Whiddett's creation will have under the bonnet.
It seems unlikely that Whiddett will shoe-horn a quad-rotor Mazda unit into the Lambo, especially if the car's to get the seal of approval from the manufacturer. For what it's worth, going by comments on social media (always a reliable source of course ... ), the decision to buddy up with Lamborghini was approved by Mazda.
Should the Madlab team retain the Huracán's standard unit, they'll be working with the lovely naturally aspirated 5.2-litre V10 engine shared with Audi's R8. In stock form, it produces 449kW at 8250rpm and 560Nm at 6500rpm.
But, it's fair to assume those numbers (and that 'naturally aspirated' tag) are probably about to go out the window. Can't wait to see what the team come up with ...