Skydiving Darren takes the plunge with the Red Devils

Darren Turner has fulfilled a lifelong ambition and made his first parachute jump, and in doing the 13,000 foot skydive he raised £1,500 for the Help For Heroes charity.

The SEAT Sport UK driver, who has won two races and scored 129 points so far in this year's HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship, made the jump with the Red Devils - the SEAT UK-supported British Army's official parachute display team, which has a fleet of five Alhambras to transport team members and equipment around the country.

Daredevil Darren, who has a fixed wing pilot's licence, made the tandem jump at South Cerney airfield near Swindon. Strapped to Lance Corporal Steve Candlish, who joined the Red Devils in 2000 and has made over 1,700 jumps, Darren exited the aeroplane at 13,000 feet above Gloucestershire. After freefalling for 45 seconds at a speed of 120mph, they pulled the parachute at 5,000 feet to enjoy a gentle five minute ride beneath the canopy, before landing safely.

The charity Help for Heroes (helpforheroes.org.uk) was founded to provide practical and direct support to the men and women of the British Armed Forces wounded in service. With the help of royalty, celebrities, the media and thousands of decent ordinary people, it has raised almost £9M since its launch in October 2007.

Darren said: "Jumping with the Red Devils was a fantastic experience. Doing a parachute jump has always been on my list of things I want to do, so I'm pleased I've done it and raised some money for a very good cause at the same time.

"I'm used to flying because I have a pilot's licence, so I wasn't nervous about taking off and getting up above the clouds. I was really looking forward to it, but that initial moment when you're sitting on the edge of an open plane door with your legs dangling over was pretty exciting. Lance Corporal Steve Candlish, the guy I was strapped too, is a professional, so it didn't really feel that my life was in somebody else's hands - but having said that, he's the one that's going to push you out of an aeroplane and that seemed like a very important decision was suddenly not in my hands! The first few seconds when you're freefalling is quite scary. I've seen the pictures of myself leaving the 'plane and it's smile-smile-smile-no smile-slight panic- and then back to smiling again!

"The freefall lasted about forty-five seconds and it was great, and then the bit under the parachute lasted five minutes and that was really nice and chilled out. We pulled the 'chute as we came through the clouds and the view was incredible. We made some steep turns and I was surprised how much G we could pull.

"I'd really like to thank all the guys at the Red Devils for making it happen and looking after me so well. It was a brilliant experience and I'm thinking of going up and doing it again."

Further information on the Red Devils, including details of how to do a tandem jump, can be found at reddevilsonline.com