Stuntman: Ignition in Hollywood - Hollywood, US, May 29, 2007

THQ's launch of their new X-Box360 and PS3 game Stuntman : Ignition saw Russ invited to Hollywood to promote the launch. Below are some images of Russ performing along with an interview of Russ by Justin Kaehler. See their full article HERE.

We talk to the Guinness World Record-holding stuntman about all things automotive.
Interview by Jason Kaehler
Interview: Russ Swift

US, May 29, 2007 - Say hello to one of our newest driving heroes: Russ Swift. We met Swift at a press event for THQ's upcoming Stuntman: Ignition game, and we found him to be one of the coolest guys we've ever met. Swift lives the kind of life we wish we could lead: the man is a British rally champion, holds a few Guinness World Records for various stunt maneuvers and travels the world to basically drive the s*** out of cars.

To date, Swift has done more than 8,000 stunt shows in over 50 countries. He's been on TV, performed shows at prestigious events like the Isle of Man TT and more. Not a bad gig if you can get it, eh?

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IGN Cars: Can you tell us a little bit about what it is you're doing here today?

Russ Swift: We're here to promote the new videogame Stuntman: Ignition. The journalists were invited to play the game and I'm here to "bring the game to life", to show them some of the things that are actually in the game - to show how exciting (these car stunts) are to do in real life, really.

IGN: So you're obviously a stuntman in real life, but we're a bit confused, and confusion makes our heads hurt. You told us earlier that you don't do stunts for movies, so what exactly is it that you do?

Russ: We get involved with a lot of movies; we promote a lot of movies. My specialty is performing live, so if anybody wants something done right the first time and in a show scenario, I tend to be the person to do it. We've traveled all over the world; we've done a lot of motor shows, car launches, a lot of TV commercials... We've had opportunities to get involved with films in the past, but fitting it in with the schedule... movies oftentimes have very long and involved schedules, and we're already booked two years in advance. So we get offers to do the movies, but we can't actually do it. I would love to do movie work someday.

IGN: Can you tell us a bit about your live show? If someone comes out to see you live, what can they expect to see?

Russ: I've got the Guinness world records for various maneuvers - I'm probably best known for the parallel park, where I handbrake turn into a parking space just 13 inches longer than the car. I drive on two wheels, I do drifting, donuts... I have a dance routine where the car goes backwards, forwards, sideways... it never stops moving. I've got the Guinness world record for the J-turn - a reverse 180 where you get up to maximum speed in reverse and then flick around to the forwards direction. I've got the Guinness world record for doing that in the tightest space. And all these things, really, we demonstrate in our show.

IGN: Can you tell us how you got these driving skills? One doesn't get all sorts of Guinness world records for driving just by going back and forth to the supermarket.

Russ: My background is in motorsport; I did 15 years rallying and competing in international events. I got well-known for the precision and accuracy of a lot of my moves, and I decided to reinterpret it into a form of entertainment and since then I never looked back.

IGN: So you did a lot of rally, and earlier you told us that you did a lot of Gymkhana-type of stuff. If someone out there wants to do what you are doing right now, how would they go about getting the skills? Do they need the rallying background, or is there another good form of practice?

Russ: Well, (rallying) is one way of getting miles under your belt. It's like playing a musical instrument: it takes years and years of practice to hone your skills to a certain level. I've sort of built up my skill competing, so when I had to adapt it to this sort of environment, it was quite easy to do. Other than that, you would have to set yourself up and just work and work and work on the maneuvers to buildup the skills so that you can do them accurately time after time.

IGN: Is there any place where anyone can go and learn these skills, or do our readers have to go out and find an empty parking lot...

Russ: Never ever do this in a public place. What I do is always done under show conditions and it's very safe and I'm working in a sterile area. To do this in a public place is totally irresponsible and very very dangerous. There are places you can go - there are stunt schools, and motor racing circuits have places where you can go and learn car control. And that's the way to do it, I would say.

IGN: You said that your rally background has helped you a bit with getting these skills, but rally doesn't have one go and drive a car on just two wheels. How did you go and learn that?

Russ: It's just a thing that I felt would compliment what I already did. When you're rallying, you do sometimes go on two wheels and you gotta know what to do to get the car back on to all four wheels. It's just an extension of that, really.

IGN: One last question - have you wrecked any cars practicing these moves?

Russ: When I learned to drive on two wheels, I rolled hundreds of times. But I haven't rolled a car in the last 25 years.

IGN: Before we go, let's say someone wants to find out more about you... how can they go about doing that?

Russ: I've got a website: www.RussSwift.com. It's got a background on all the things I do and lots of videos and things I've done in the past.

IGN: Sounds good. Thanks for your time, Russ!