TeenDrive365 Documentary Shorts | Victory Toyota Seaside CA

Award-winning Getty Images Reportage Photojournalists Capture Three Families’ Journeys;
Stories Underscore Important Role Parents Play in Teen Driving Safety

 

Excitement. Fear. Loss of Control. Pride. Every parent of a teenager can relate to the rollercoaster of emotions that occurs when their child receives their driver’s license.
 
In a new series of documentary shorts, Toyota has partnered with three award-winning Getty Images Reportage photojournalists to explore this major rite of passage through the experiences of three families in Los Angeles, Boston and St. Petersburg, Fla. The series is part ofTeenDrive365, Toyota’s comprehensive teen safety initiative that helps parents and teens become safer drivers together. You can watch the videos at www.TeenDrive365.com.
 
“As the mother of two teenagers, I understand first-hand the range of emotions that parents can experience when their teen receives their driver’s license,” said Marjorie Schussel, Corporate Marketing Director for Toyota. “Even though the families featured in Toyota’s TeenDrive365series all have unique stories to share, the common thread is that each parent is deeply involved in their teen’s journey to get their license.”
 
In the video shorts, a teenager’s new driver’s license represents different things for each family: 

• In Boston, the Rabinowitz family’s story highlights the excitement – and the tension – that can accompany this rite of passage. Teenager Erez is eager to get his license, while his parents are more reflective, hoping that he will not text and drive as they both do. This milestone is especially complicated for Erez’s father, who survived a life-altering car crash as a child that badly injured his parents. 
• In St. Petersburg, Fla., teenager De’Qonton’s new license represents freedom, achievement and the opportunity to broaden his life experiences. His parents share a mixture of pride and measured caution, while his younger brother has a new reason to aspire to be more like him.
• In Los Angeles, the Vaught family’s story poignantly explores the ways in which teenage daughter Chloe’s new license helps her parents begin to view her as an adult, such as when she drives her mother to her grandmother’s funeral.

The shorts were created by award-winning Getty Images Reportage photojournalists Sara Lewkowicz, (St. Petersburg,) Ben Lowy (Los Angeles) and Shaul Schwarz (Boston).
 
The new series builds on TeenDrive365’s other resources, which include online tools, expert advice, local events and social media that help parents model safer driving behaviors for their children. The focus on parents as role models is based on research from a national study from Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). The study found a significant correlation between how parents and their teens drive, suggesting that parents are the biggest influence on how a teen will behave behind the wheel.
 
Since Toyota TeenDrive365’s launch in November 2013, millions of people have engaged with its online and in-person resources. Earlier this year, the program introduced a new distracted driving simulator that uses Oculus Rift, the latest virtual reality technology, to bring the dangers of distracted driving to life for parents and teens.
 
The new campaign was developed in partnership with digital agency 360i and Getty Images Reportage. This collaboration marks the first time Getty Images Reportage has partnered with a brand to produce a series of short form multimedia documentaries.
 
To learn more about the resources offered through Toyota TeenDrive365, go to www.TeenDrive365.com.

Toyota Engineers to Drive One Lap of America Endurance Race | Victory Toyota Seaside CA

Toyota Engineers to Drive One Lap of America Endurance Race

TRD Scion FR-S Project Car Will Carry Them 3,456 Miles in Seven Days Race Started by Brock Yates in 1971 as 'Cannonball Run'

Although you won’t see Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, or Farrah Fawcett in the 2015 One Lap of America endurance race, the stars of the 1981 movie,Cannonball Run, would find it eerily familiar to their script.  The Car and Driver magazine writer and auto racer Brock Yates, who wrote the screenplay, based it upon his experiences organizing the race four times between 1971 and 1979.  Yates’ idea evolved into the One Lap of America, gaining legitimacy along the way.  It is now run by his son Brock Yates, Jr. 
 
Two Toyota Production Engineers (PE), Anthony Magagnoli and Stephen Byington, will participate in the One Lap of America Race, May 2-9, in a specially built TRD Scion FR-S.  They are supported by an additional 10 PE Team Members and Co-Ops all working together to prepare the vehicle for the race.
 
“A race like the One Lap, is a true test of man and machine, said lead driver and Toyota Instrumentation Engineer Anthony Magagnoli. Not only is the vehicle pushed to its limits covering nearly 4,000 miles in seven days with race events at 10 racetracks along the way, but the driver and co-driver are pushed to the max as well having to endure long hours in transit between events with no support crew to help with repairs or maintenance along the way.”
 
“Toyota Production Engineering’s participation in the One Lap of America is part of the company’s unique approach to developing its young engineers, said PE Manager Phillip Ryan. Lessons in teamwork and problem solving learned during this race and others, ultimately makes better engineers which results in better vehicles for our customers. This is an exciting opportunity that Toyota PE presents its Team Members.”
 
Magagnoli and Byington, who both have extensive professional racing experience, leave South Bend, Ind., on Saturday, May 2, stopping at racetracks in Omaha, Ne.; Denver, Colo.; Pueblo Colo.; Fort Worth, Texas; Plano, Texas; Tulsa, Okla.; Bowling Green, Ky.; and finishing up where they started in South Bend on Saturday, May 9.
 
Racing footage, in-car video, and photos from each day’s activities will be posted on Facebook (facebook.com/toyotapemotorsports) and Twitter (@toyotapermtrsprt) throughout the eight-day event.