Supra Jumps 100 Feet Into Cardboard Boxes for Toyota Commercial, Isn't Totaled

Things have gone so far that sometimes you can't even tell a commercial and original content apart. And there used to be a time when car commercials were fun to watch. But these days, they all seem to be the same: the same angles, the same driving scenes, and almost zero innovation. But then I came across Toyota's new ad called "The Pitch," which focuses around the 2022 GR Supra.

Now, I've been following Fredric Aasbo ever since he was still driving in Norway and only dreaming about competing in Formula Drift. And I'm really glad he's made it this far driving Supras. The timing seems impeccable with this new commercial, as "The Fast and the Furious" was launched on the 18th of June in 2001. Can you believe it has been 20 years already? I was 12 years old at the time, and I was determined I would grow up and get into some form of racing myself.

But back to the commercial itself, the execution was very interesting, to say the least, and the moment I saw the orange Supra appear on screen, my heart instantly skipped a beat. Especially because there were talks about it "jumping off a ramp into the sunset," which is the kind of thing that reminds you of "2 Fast 2 Furious".

But seeing that shot happen left me thinking that this was just some advanced visual effects, and not an actual jump. But I was wrong, as Papadakis Racing revealed a "Behind the Scenes" video revealing how they pulled off the jump. They chose San Pedro as the shooting location, near the Long Beach harbor area, which is relatively close to where Formula Drift events are held.

They built a ramp for the jump and treated it with a special powder that would provide a more stunning effect for the video. Of course, everything was calculated down to the smallest detail. Perhaps the most interesting aspect about the stunt was the landing area, which was comprised of cardboard boxes. There may be between 500 to 1000 of them stacked together to cushion the landing by the looks of it.

Andy Bell was the stunt driver for the job, and the 2021 GR Supra he drove was mostly stock, apart from some extra safety features. A special degree of attention was paid to the roll cage, which was built with more complexity than what you would normally see on a race car. A bucket seat was also installed, along with a six-point harness. And to top it off, additional weight was placed in the back to keep the car level while it was in mid-air.

After such a challenge, the car still looked relatively intact, which is once again a testament to the build quality Toyota provides its customers with. The rest of the video covers some more behind the scenes shots, including the drifting scenes in Los Angeles and the gear that was used to produce the video. However, I just couldn't help myself from rewatching the jump over and over again, something I had done with the original "Fast and Furious" movies as well.