Toyota Driving Expectations

Saturday my Dad and I went to the National Toyota Center which is actually located nearby here in California. We heard about this driving program from a friend of our that had recommended it, but we did not really expect much of the program. We left very surprised at how well the event had been put together with effort and content.

To start off they had us sign a few waivers for accidents but also another to use the participants in their Toyota media. I thought that there might be a few professional camera guys walking around every now and then taking pictures for a website or fl yer but they went all out. Pretty much wherever we turned there was a camera crew ready to capture our next move in the class. My group had special attention with the video cameras because there was a guy who had won some sort of contest and ended up here to be in a production of Toyota's (I'm not sure what it is).


The instructors guiding us through the course were very nice and some of them even came from Texas just to do this event. They split us off from our parents and had us do our own classes while the guardians did some of their own. Some of our topics included how the physics of a car, how weather affects an active car, finical responsibility, and also about anti-lock brakes. After each classroom session we got to get in groups of about 3 people and go in a car to try out some driving courses they had set out.

On one course I got put in the same car as the contest winner guy,an instructor, and another participant. There were Hollywood-quality camera cranes put out in order to catch what the students did. I joked that they even had the car bugged to get sound. Just then a camera man came up to the parked car we were in and opened the door to say "We can hear you". We turned around and looked in the trunk and sure enough there was a sound system there. I also saw that there was a camera attached to the passenger's front window to see whatever the driver's reaction was.

The first course consisted of hitting the gas pedal to get as much speed as possible in a small distance(about 40 MPH) and then to slam the brakes as hard as we could to stop the car, as the Anti lock Braking System kicked in.
The 2nd course was one that we weave between cones and then speed and then slam the brakes in a small area of water that had been set out on the floor.
The 3rd part's main focus was to distract the driver as much as possible while getting through a small set of cones and signs. Music was blasting in the car, while the instructor through a small ball around. He also had me drink a small bottle water while calling a number on my cell phone, while still driving through the course.

After we had rotated turns from each other, the camera crew took the contest winner aside and started asking him questions about his experience that he just had, like they usually did after he did something. This time they called me out as I was walking away. I thought that maybe I had dropped something so I turned back around so I turned around and checked to see what they wanted from me. It turns out that they also wanted to interview me and the other guy that were in the car along with the contest winner to interview us as well. I did that and answered a few short questions that they needed and then went along to finish the rest of the course.

As we were leaving the event, each person got his/her own share of Toyota bling. This included Scion plush cars, T-Shirts, hats, sunscreen, keychains, chapstick, flyers, car first aid kits, and even Toyota sponsored music samplers. If you ever see this event come up you should try it out or recommend it to someone you know that could use it. Also let me know if you see a guy in a bright green Relient k t-shirt and a brown hat in any kind of Toyota media, because that would most likely be me.