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Meet MADMAC: The Rotary-Powered McLaren P1 Drift Car

MADMAC pairs P1-inspired styling with a McLaren 650S GT3 chassis and a turbocharged triple-rotor engine. Here’s what makes the one-off drift car different from a production McLaren P1.
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MADMAC is a one-off rotary-powered drift car with McLaren P1-inspired bodywork—but it is not a production McLaren P1. Its foundation is a McLaren 650S GT3 chassis, reworked by Lanzante and driver Mad Mike Whiddett with a turbocharged triple-rotor engine. The car was revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2024.

What is MADMAC?

MADMAC is a custom drift hypercar created by Lanzante and Mad Mike Whiddett. The name is used for a car that combines racing-car hardware, P1 styling and a rotary powertrain. Lanzante says it was built for events and demonstrations, rather than as a production model.

That distinction matters when describing it as a “rotary McLaren P1.” Goodwood identifies the car’s basis as a McLaren 650S GT3 chassis with P1-inspired bodywork; it is not a standard P1 whose original chassis and hybrid powertrain were simply converted.

How the P1 styling and 650S GT3 chassis fit together

The P1 connection is primarily visual. MADMAC wears bodywork inspired by McLaren’s road-going hypercar, while its underlying chassis comes from the 650S GT3 race car. That makes “P1-style 650S GT3” a more precise shorthand than “a McLaren P1 with a rotary engine.”

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The distinction also explains why the car should be understood as a bespoke drift build, not a factory P1 variant. The project’s identity comes from combining those two McLaren references with Whiddett’s rotary-powered drift-car brief.

What engine does MADMAC use?

Goodwood’s completed-build report describes a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine with three rotors. It replaced the car’s twin-turbo V8. Lanzante likewise describes MADMAC as rotary-swapped, but its published output wording differs from Goodwood’s figure.

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Specification Reported detail
Engine Turbocharged 2.0-litre triple-rotor rotary engine, reported by Goodwood in 2024.
Previous engine Twin-turbo V8, replaced in the build, according to Goodwood’s completed-build report.
Output Goodwood reports 1,000 PS (735 kW) in 2024; Lanzante’s undated project page describes output as “over 1,000hp” (accessed 2026). These are the sources’ distinct phrasings and units, not interchangeable figures.
Transmission The original transmission was retained, with a bespoke transfer system connecting it to the rotary engine, according to Goodwood.

The output figures are worth keeping in their original form: Goodwood gives a specific metric-horsepower figure, while Lanzante uses a rounded “over” claim in hp. Neither phrasing should be silently substituted for the other.

Who built it, and when did it debut?

Lanzante describes the project as a 100-day challenge that moved from its UK headquarters to Whiddett’s MadLab in New Zealand. Lanzante’s announcement names Whiddett and O’Gara Coach in the collaboration. MADMAC was publicly revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2024.

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Before the completed car was presented, Goodwood’s 26 March 2024 preview quoted Whiddett saying: “Being a proud kiwi, I’m inspired to push this McLaren project to the absolute limit, and then take it around the world… sideways.” That was a statement of intent during the build-up; it does not establish where the car later appeared.

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Why call it the world’s only rotary-powered McLaren P1?

The phrase captures MADMAC’s unusual combination: P1-inspired styling, a McLaren racing chassis and a rotary engine. It is useful shorthand for the project, but it can mislead if read literally. Based on Goodwood’s description of the finished build, MADMAC is a 650S GT3-based car dressed in P1-inspired bodywork—not a production P1 retaining its original architecture.

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Its most important contrasts are straightforward: the bodywork evokes the P1, the chassis is from a 650S GT3, and a turbocharged triple-rotor replaced the original twin-turbo V8. Those details make MADMAC a distinct custom drift car rather than a new factory McLaren model.

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