Driver performs first car backflip

FRENCH daredevil driver and skier Guerlain Chicherit has become the first person in the world to do a back-flip in a car.

The 34-year-old, who started out in extreme off-piste skiing before branching into “rally-raid” (cross-country rallying), trained for four years to carry out the feat, in which he had to hit a ramp at a precise 60kph in his converted Mini Countryman.

Even so, he did a first test run in private without crowds present to make sure all was well before performing the feat again in front of thousands on the snow at ski resort Tignes in Savoie.

“I’ve finally managed to do the first complete and unaided backflip in history, after several attempts and a few scary moments,” he told journalists.

To do this kind of thing you “have to be confident, at ease with heights, and just go for it”, he said.
Chicherit is a four-times freeride skiing world champion, an event involving extreme off-piste conditions, and was rally-raid world champion in 2009. His motto is “no risk, no fun”.

Watch the backflip here: Mini backflip
Photo: Screenshot from video, by Mini