Mad Mike's building a rotary-powered F1 drift car using a 1986 March chassis

A gentleman named Michael Whiddett has revealed his intention to install a rotary-powered engine into a 1986 March F1 chassis in a bid to create the world’s first ever Formula One drift machine.

Of course, keen motorsport enthusiasts will say any Formula One car can be turned into a drift machine with the right mix of rain and a healthy disregard for tyres, but this one’s different.

“It is quite scary actually,” said ‘Mad Mike’, who you may recognise from previous wild projects we've covered on TG.com. “We are building by far the most insane project Toni and I have ever tackled.” Toni is Mad Mike Motorsport’s manager.

And together they’ll use a 1986 March 87P Formula One chassis – originally developed for Formula 3000 and later used in F1 as was the March way back in those days. (Really Keen Motorsport Enthusiasts will fondly remember March Engineering and its journey in F1. Adrian Newey had a successful spell there too.)

That 87P was originally powered by a Ford Cosworth V8 and in 1987 scored a season-best sixth place at the Monaco GP. Mike intends to bin that Cosworth V8 and install a rotary engine – because why the hell not – which, he explains, requires a complete re-engineering of the rear of the car.

Mike’s quite fond of rotary power. He stuck one in an MX-5 and a McLaren P1 a while back, too. Work on the project has begun in New Zealand, and the whole process will be documented on a popular video sharing website.

“Growing up with my solo mum on a very limited budget, I spent my time building, breaking and learning to modify old radio-controlled cars,” said Mike. “That journey has now led me to engineering my dream Formula One car to showcase and entertain the world.”

We’ll let you know as soon as it’s finished.