Drifting a Mazda RX-8 around the magic roundabout with 'Mad' Mike Whiddett

“In your typical drift competition, you walk the track and get a lot of practice attempts. With the Magic Roundabout it was a little tricky, because the kerbs and traffic islands are hard to see. All that stuff can damage the car quite easily; the surface changes and even the manhole covers can be really harsh on the drivetrain.

“We actually snapped an axle on our second lap. We had already used our spare, so we literally filmed that whole video in two laps. That’s a testament to the amazing video crew that captured it.”

The Mazda was set up to get as sideways as possible…

“We ran the car exactly the same as we did at the Festival of Speed. In competition drifting, as much as it looks like we want the car to be quite slippery to slide around the place, we’re actually trying to find as much grip as possible, but that much grip and power is really hard on the drivetrain, so when we’re doing demonstration stuff we do take grip out of the car. The shocks, tyre pressures and wheel alignment are the main three factors where we can really change the car’s attitude and just free it up a little bit.”

The attempt took place at 4am, but he didn’t annoy the neighbours…

“The council had arranged for the roads to be closed, and we did a flyer drop [to local houses] beforehand, as we do when we’re doing a street event. We made a little viewing area so that anyone who came out because we woke them up with the noise could watch; it wasn’t like we told them they had to go back inside. A big thank you to the people who live near the roundabout. Hopefully I didn’t disturb their peace too much.”

He’s already found an even better roundabout to attack next year…

“When we visited Red Bull Racing’s Formula 1 factory, we found another roundabout near Milton Keynes. It looks like it has a perfect surface and is even bigger, so I could go even faster.”