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MANY
have seen him on television, performing a parking
maneuver between two parked vehicles and inserting his
tiny car in a single deft move without damage to any
vehicles.
This is
a trick that would be highly useful in a car-jammed city
like Metro Manila, where parking spaces are hard to
find, according to some viewers.
Fret no
more. Watch and learn from Russ Swift, a Guinness record
holder, who flew in from Europe Wednesday to perform his
breaking maneuvers at the fourth Manila International
Auto Show at the grounds of the World Trade Center
beginning Thursday up to Sunday.
Swift is
also the record holder in the fastest donut spin
maneuver and holds two more records in the tightest
J-turn and parallel parking in two seconds flat. He can
spin a car into a parking space just 33 cms longer than
the vehicle and has taught even grannies how to do the
donut maneuver live on TV,
“’I’ve
been driving since I was 12 years old, driving a Hillman
Mini, an ordinary saloon car,” Swift said of his young
days behind the wheel, just starting to make a name for
himself in the highly competitive world of race-car
driving.
Since
then, he had participated and won top prizes in various
races, but found himself getting better at the parallel
parking, which he had done during the last 35 years.
“I also
do two-wheel driving, drifting and other stunts,” he
said during an airport interview, where he said that
most of these stunts have landed him on television
commercials.
Swift
made his amazing performing stunt debut with his famous
Austin Montego commercial in 1988. His career started in
Autotesting, a type of motorsport where drivers follow a
defined route. As the British Autotest champion and
England Autotest Team captain, he demonstrated his
skills in public on several occasions.
That’s
when he realized that there was a demand for this type
of entertainment.
“It’s
nice to make a living out of a hobby,” he admits,
although he was adamant in saying that there’s a lot of
money to be made of his death-defying stunts.
On a TV
show, Swift taught a few grandmothers how to execute the
donut maneuver.
“The
Montego ad launched me internationally,” he said, where
an advertising agency saw him doing his tricks and
thought that it would be great to have all 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 brought Swift to where he is today, traveling
all the world’s Auto Shows, the German Grand Prix and
the Bahrain Grand Prix. Since them, Swift has
established himself as the world’s No. 1 display driver
and car launches to his credit.
Swift
has performed in over 50 countries, including several
countries in Europe, America, South Africa, Taiwan,
Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australian and the
Philippines.
This
year, Swift makes a comeback featuring the all-new
Subaru imprfeza WRX STI. The Russ Swift Precision Stunt
Driving Show is supported by Subaru,, Bridgestone, ROTA
Wheels, Motul and nionitoncars.com. |
