Russ hour

Russ Swift started performing in Asia and made his debut with Subaru in Singapore in 2002.

In an intimate one-on-one session with precision driver and Guinness Record holder Russ Swift who was in Cebu last weekend to perform for Subaru at SM Cebu’s open parking mall, the Englishman shared some stories, not too many of his fans may not know about him.
Swift has been performing in the country since 2006, where he made his debut at the Manila International Auto Show (MIAS). He made his debut in Cebu last year and in Davao City three weeks ago. This year marks his 14th consecutive season of performing stunt shows for Subaru in the country and there seems to be no waning in drawing crowds coming to see his thrilling stunts including his Guinness record-breaking stunt maneuvers.
Here are a few things you may not have heard about Russ Swift.

He did over 10,000 shows in 50 countries

“If you count how many shows I perform each day on a typical car show, multiply by the number of days, it would be safe to say I have done over ten thousand shows,” said Swift. In Asia, the Russ Swift show is performed under contract with the Motor Image Group for the
Subaru brand. Motor Image is the exclusive distributor for most of the Asian markets including the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam and some parts of China. In Europe, Russ Swift performs for other European car brands including MG and Mini. He made his debut in Asia in 2002 at the Singapore Motor Show and performed in the Philippines for the first time in 2006.

He drove for the world’s best drivers and showed them a thing or two

In 2012, when five time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton announced his departure from McLaren and move to his current team to race for the Mercedes-Petronas F1 team the following year, Swift had a chance to give Hamilton some pointers on how to perform some signature maneuvers like signing skid marks by burning out the tires of a McLaren MP4-12C supercar. Although Swift tried to show the young F1 champion a thing or two, he did not want to appear too keen, perhaps it was because of his imminent departure from the McLaren team at that time.

Russ Swift teaches F1 race champion Lewis Hamilton a thing or two in precision driving.

Swift also worked with other F1 drivers including Mika Häkkinen, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez to scribble their signatures using skid marks made from spinning the tires in one of Johnnie Walker’s “Join the Pact” signature campaigns. Jenson Button told him – “You have the best job in the world!”

This wasn’t the first time Swift made a signature move for Hamilton. In 2007, Microsoft (yes, the tech company) commissioned Swift to use a motorcycle and a Caterham sports car to scribble “Go Lewis!” on the tarmac using skid marks from its spinning tires. In October 2007, Microsoft arranged Swift to carve out a message of good luck for Hamilton in South West London’s Battersea Power Station in time for that season’s Brazilian GP race. The iconic coal-fired power station served as a backdrop of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight,” as well as several scenes in the 1970s British sci-fi TV series “Dr. Who”.

Danger Russ

In his shows, he would claim he put the “Russ” in “danger-russ.” During his performances, he would prank his unsuspecting victims into believing they are going to be risking their lives by standing in between cars while he drives around his stunt cars. He also occasionally pulled off some pranks for TV shows in his home country. In Aberdeen, Scotland, he once drove a car salesman around and did a two-wheel stunt and gave his passenger the shock of his life. In 2012, when the Toyota 86 was introduced in UK, Swift tricked TFM Radio’s DJ Wayne Allen into thinking that he was being driven by a Toyota salesman and the next thing he knew, he was being driven around like a madman doing donuts and drifting the car around inside a nearby racetrack. The Toyota 86 uses the same platform and engine as Subaru’s BRZ which Swift uses for his performances. In all his stunts using the BRZ, “there are no modifications on the BRZ whatsoever, except for the nut behind the wheel,” Swift said jokingly. He has been known to use big commercial trucks and two-wheel them in stunt shows.

He has been known to use big commercial trucks and two-wheel them in stunt shows.

He taught some grannies to do stunts

When Jeremy Clarkson was still with Top Gear TV show, Swift taught a few elderly grandmothers of the Women’s Institute how to do donut drift and handbrake parking. “It wasn’t too hard, they got the hang of it rather quickly! Top Gear’s Richard Hammond was hosting that segment and he was quite surprised himself,” added Swift. Using a Honda S2000 open top sports car, everyone in the show had a great time and thankfully no one suffered a heart attack.