I tested some races, didn't get the hang of the drifting mechanic I think it might be too much influenced by the direction, but overall the improvement you propose seems cool.
I think that if you continue on the mario kart/ party race games lines you are creating something cool, but keep in mind that you must find your difference from all the other racing/party games like this

1. I think the effects from collectible items should either be triggered automatically when picked up or triggered via a hotkey rather than requiring LMB. 
2. I don't see much value in switching between UI views. The map showing relative positions seems to provide the most useful information. It may be worth displaying all UI options simultaneously instead of separating it into different views.
3. At the moment, collectible items are randomized. That makes sense while players are still learning the effects, but it could be useful if one of the collectible rows displayed the actual items being collected, allowing players to make choices.
4. After that collectable items that are showing the effect explicitly instead of random effects could be also spread out randomly on the map instead of guaranteed collectable row. That can be implemented after 1st loop is finished for example

Great game! Addictive and fun to play