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Leap Of Faith: Professional Stuntman Damien Walters Just Blind Backflipped Over A Formula E Racing Car

The best thing to happen to motorsport since Nigel Mansell's moustache.

Screenshot: YouTube (via: FIA Formula E Championship).

Stuntman and parkour kind Damien Walters is no stranger to a bit of madness.

This is a man, lest we forget, who once did a bungee jump without a harness. This is a man, lest we forget, who once ran the whole of a loop-the-loop…on foot. Yeah. If madness was a person, it’s fair to say that Damien Walters would do the best man speech at its wedding.

Putting all previous notions of Damien-filled madness to one side for a second, we think his latest stunt might just be the maddest one he’s ever done. We’re not joking. Seriously. It’s basically the dictionary definition of mad. Crazy, ludicrous, ridiculous, batshit insane and generally mental; you ain’t seen nothing like this before.

Screenshot: YouTube (via: FIA Formula E Championship).

Walters, it would seem, has grown bored of back-flipping over stationary things. So bored, in fact, that he’s decided to start back-flipping over speeding cars. And not just any speeding car, but full-blown Formula E cars. Pretty wild, right?

Wait, there’s more. You see, not only has Walters started back-flipping over speeding Formula E cars…he’s started back-flipping over speeding Formula E cars while facing the other way. Don’t read that bit again. You read it right the first time.

Screenshot: YouTube (via: FIA Formula E Championship).

For this extremely ballsy stunt, fittingly dubbed ‘Leap Of Faith’, DW (Damien Walters, not the sister from animated TV show Arthur) stands with his back to the car as it approaches him at speed. As the rehearsals, which also feature in the video, show this stunt is all about timing. Jump too late, and DW will be a splat on the tarmac. Jump too early, and he’ll clip the back of the car on the way back down.

With such fine margins involved (the car was reportedly going 62 mph), and the risk of serious injury and death so obvious, it’s no wonder that Walters looks so relieved when he nails the jump. The reactions of the crowd tell their own story. If their facial expressions could be summarised by a solitary phrase, that phrase would be “Thank goodness I didn’t just watch a bald man called Damien get obliterated by a race car.”

Screenshot: YouTube (via: FIA Formula E Championship).

By trade, Damien Walters is a freerunner, a gymnast, and Hollywood stuntman. With movie credits including Captain America and Skyfall, Walters is used to being in visually stunning action sequences and staring danger square in the face. This latest effort though could just be his piece-de-resistance. I mean…come on! Nailing a blind back-flip over a speeding Formula E car is just next level badass.

Oh, right. You want to watch it? Of course. Of course. Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. Here then, for your viewing pleasure, is Damien Walter’s heart-stopping ‘Leap Of Faith’. This, we think you’ll agree, is like some dystopian Mad Max ballet between man and machine. Warning: product may contain nuts.

Screenshot: YouTube (via: FIA Formula E Championship).
Screenshot: YouTube (via: FIA Formula E Championship).
Screenshot: YouTube (via: FIA Formula E Championship).

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Damien Walters Manages a Loop the Loop… With Only His Feet

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