Mad Mike's 1,000 HP Mazda RX-8 Clears Mountain Pass without Ever Going Straight

Fran-who? The Franschhoek Pass is the oldest road in South Africa and, as this clip will clearly demonstrate, one of the most beautiful as well, and just restricted to that particular country. The world is full of scenic routes that just beg to be driven with the right car, but for most of us, they don't get to be anything more than a few names written on a bucket list.

That's largely because we're not professional drifters under contract with Red Bull like Mad Mike here. The New Zealand drifting ace took his modified Mazda RX-8 affectionately called BADBUL and headed over to this road that was once called Olifantshoek (Elephants Corner) due to the presence of pachyderm herds.

In the meantime, humans have taken over, and the large mammals are nowhere to be seen, but the place remains as beautiful as ever. We're pretty sure Mad Mike didn't leave the area without getting a proper tour - it would have been a shame to return home without the chance of experiencing that magnificent scenery other than through his car's side windows.

The video producers even bothered to give it a story, but if we're honest these clips tend to be very similar to x-rated films in that respect: it's nice that they go the trouble, but we're here for the action, really. And Mad Mike does deliver, with the poor BADBUL needing a new set of tires at the end.

Un unnecessarily dangerous drift where the RX-8's rear bumper all but scrapes the protective barrier provides the most beautiful shot of the entire video, which is a great compliment to that particular take since the whole action-flick is filled with gorgeous footage from one end to the other. And there's even a very good piece of advice in there for you if you ever find yourself in South Africa: don't feed the baboons. Those are nasty bastards.