'Mad' Mike hits Kyoto’s Rocket Bunny

Growing up as a baby boomer, our generation didn’t have cell phones, so we made our fun with cars and everyone was into driving and cars back then

Kei Miura, as he reminisces with 'Mad' Mike at his shop in Kyoto

When I met Mike for the first time I was amazed with his passion for rotary engines, as even in Japan they were pretty rare. I was inspired by the development they were doing with the rotary engine in New Zealand

Kei Miura

Rocket Bunny is one of the leaders when it comes to aero parts, so you might expect a huge factory and showroom, here you see Kei Miura’s shop which is so typical of Japan, so low key and modest, but the work that comes out of this shop is world class

Mike Whiddett

Kei has his special tools which is his mind, his laptop and his CNC machine, with these simple tools he is able to create such amazing leading styles. Many people don’t know that Kei designs aero parts for more than 40 different brands which is an incredible milestone to accomplish. I am so honoured to get to work with Kei and here we are working on our next collaboration for the next generation of our BADBUL Mazda RX8, the fresh designs are looking wild and I’m looking forward to releasing this creation

Mike Whiddett

Kei’s office is littered with rad memorabilia, it’s cool to see the same stuff that I am into inspires him as well. He has everything from old school Japanese wheels, old RC cars, Atari arcade games, original Macintosh computers, Mach 10 ghetto blasters to some amazing books detailing his designs, it’s such a cool creative space to hang out in

Mike Whiddett

It was cool to jam on Kei’s personal simulator, he already had one of NZ’s tracks and cut some laps in the iconic Mazda 787B, the sound effects and the simulation characteristics of this game are so on point

Mike Whiddett

Kei’s CNC machine is the tool that works the magic, it literally works non stop cutting moulds from big blocks of polystyrene. We got to see it cutting some unseen Liberty Walk stuff, which was going through the manufacturing process. Once the moulds have been cut from the initial 3D CAD drawings, fiberglass panels are then produced from these moulds, before being painted and fitted to cars all over the world

Mike Whiddett

One of the perks is meeting such cool people in my travels, Kei is one of the coolest out there and it was such a pleasure to hang with him again. Kei is such a talent, and a humble guy, we are so stoked that we get to work with people like this on our project builds. It’s great to have these long term partnerships and grow our brands together

Mike Whiddett

Once we finished going over the designs we headed out for some Shabu Shabu at Kei’s local restaurant where they have a pond of live fish inside the restaurant which they can net for your table. Kei enjoyed the spin I took him for at Gatebil in Norway when we first met, so he was stoked to return the favour cruising and scraping the streets of Kyoto in his latest E30 BMW

Mike Whiddett

Kei adding the finishing touches to his VW, then he insisted I took this little pocket rocket for a drive convoy style with his E30. We broke a few necks as some of the locals enjoyed seeing the unique style of his Euro creations. It was rad cruising the streets and making some noise

Mike Whiddett

This part of my job is just as exciting for me as the driving, it’s all about the challenges of creating dream cars, the task ahead is to transform the Mazda RX8 grocery getter into a fresh looking pyscho screamer that’s ready to shred, these designs are where it all starts

Mike Whiddett