Swift takes a Swift to Croft

Stunt and precision driving expert Paul Swift will make his Rallycross debut at Croft this weekend where, appropriately, he will drive in the Swift Sport Championship during the British Rallycross Grand Prix event.

A multiple autotest champion and now sometime rally driver, Swift has made a career out of his precision driving business and has starred in TV shows, films and adverts – including Audi’s beautiful advert for the R8 Spyder. The Grand Prix will, however, be his first Rallycross start, but in this he is also following in the wheeltracks of his father, Russ.

Swift Snr. also has a formidable record in autotests and competed in rallies. He has also established a successful business in stunt and display driving, probably establishing the benchmark for the professional skill set in the business. Russ Swift was also a Rallycross driver for a short time.

Back in the mid-1980s British Rallycross enjoyed the patronage of DSRM, a steel company that backed Mark Rennison from early in his career through two British titles and into his foray to circuit racing. The team backed its efforts by running cars in other classes and was notably responsible for introducing and developing the Vauxhall Nova (Opel Corsa) in Rallycross. Fielding two of the then new cars, the team used Swift’s knowledge and experience to help them develop the car in its earliest days, the second of the Novas driven by Peter Rucroft. Swift’s stay in the team was relatively short and by the end of the 1986 season his seat had been taken by teenager Russell Spink.

At the end of its second season, the Swift Sport Championship, for control-specification 1600cc Suzuki Swifts, has quickly grown to become a strong element of the British championship package and has 17 cars entered for the Croft event.

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