His name is synonymous to his Guiness record breaking maneuver in the fastest donut spin and also holds two more records in the tightest J-turn and parallel parking in two seconds flat. He even taught a few grannies on how to do the donut maneuver in a TV appearance on BBC’s Top Gear Show.
Swift made his amazing performing stunt driving debut with his famous Austin Montego commercial in 1988. His career started in Autotesting, a type of motorsport where drivers follow a defined route. They maneuver around a set of markers, with stop lines and changes of direction. The drivers use both forward and reverse gears and race against the clock. Precision driving and maintaining momentum are the keys to success here, and it was here where Russ first proved his driving ability. As British Autotest champion and England Autotest Team Captain, Russ demonstrated his skills in public on several occasions. He then realized that there was a demand for this type of entertainment. He formed the eponymous Russ Swift Driving Services in 1981.
By 1987, an advertising agency got hold of one of his videos, and the agency thought it would be a good idea to use Russ’s skills in a TV commercial. A story was drawn up and Russ was asked to insert some interesting maneuvers. In a corporate car park, a car pulls a series of break-neck stunts, culminating in a handbrake turn, and an eye-popping piece of parallel parking. An anonymous actor climbs out of the car and wins the applause of his on-screen co-workers. But the real talent behind the wheel was Russ Swift, stunt driver extraordinaire.
“The Montego advert launched me internationally,” Russ says. “We had put on a display at the 1987 British Grand Prix. Rover’s advertising agency saw me doing all these tricks and thought it would be great to have all of those in a TV commercial. I was given a free hand and put all my best tricks in it. It won the ‘best car commercial in the world’ award that year, and it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.”
That success spurred him on to where he is today: “We’ve done the Melbourne and Singapore Auto Shows, the German Grand Prix and the Bahrain Grand Prix.” Since then Russ has established himself as the world’s number one display driver with numerous TV commercials, and car launches to his credit world-wide. Russ has now performed over 8,000 displays in over 50 countries including America, South Africa, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.
“I always like to be one step ahead of everybody else when we create a new show. Everyone can do handbrake turns and donuts, but we choreograph and tie it all together.”
Russ has revolutionized International Auto Shows. As a result of Russ’s displays at various auto shows, many have adopted the “live” theme for the whole show. Recent TV appearances include teaching grannies to do do-nuts on Top Gear, and the donut world record.
Russ won four British Autotest Championships and an International Rally in Sweden in his Cooper S in the early eighties. He has recently spent some time promoting The Italian Job film with displays at premieres in New York and London. Although his stunts seem wild and outlandish, Russ places control and professionalism at the center of what he does. That approach has left him with at least one unlikely boast for someone who has “professional stunt driver” on his CV: “I’ve never written a car off.”
Russ performed a stunt for the latest Jeremy Clarkson DVD, where “we had to destroy a Mini by tearing the doors off against walls and tearing the bumpers away – all while driving the car. “We only had one chance to get it right or the car would be ruined. I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing something like that; knowing it’s got to be perfect first time and that other people would struggle to do it!”
Russ used cars to stage a game of football in a TV advertisement, and later adapted this later for Top Gear’s famous football matches with the participants driving cars.
Russ Swift performed in a series of exhibitions at the Manila International Auto Show. The World Trade Center’s backstage driveway bore circular tire marks and smells of burnt rubber as he displayed his spectacular precision driving. He wowed the audience with his signature 2-wheel stunt, donut maneuver and J-turn parking maneuvers and displayed his antics while driving in several stock high-performance Subaru units renowned for its spirited performance and precise handling.
The Russ Swift Stunt Driving Performance at the Manila International Auto Show 2007 was supported by Motorimage (Subaru), Bridgestone, Concept One, ROTA Wheels, MOTUL and motioncars.com. Organized by Worldbex Services International, the proceeds of the show were dominated to the charitable foundations of GMA-7.
By Alvin Uy | Photos By Jason K. Ang
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