24-year-old graphic design student Decio Lourenco of Cape Town, South Africa, hit the headlines earlier this year when he rode his skateboard down Kloof Nek Road in Cape Town at insanely high speeds - at one point hitting 68 mph and triggering a speed camera. I know that road very well, having driven it umpteen times over many years, so I can only doff my hat to the courage - or foolhardiness - of anyone prepared to tackle its steep slopes and tight turns on a skateboard. I recommend watching the video in full-screen mode.
Mercedes-Benz South Africa decided to make use of his skills, and the publicity surrounding them, by recruiting him for an advertisement highlighting the performance of their sporty A45 AMG model. They took Decio and the car to the Franschhoek Pass, another South African road I know very well. Over three days camera crews filmed the skateboarder and the car chasing each other down the pass, producing this extended advertisement that I find very attractive as a piece of 'performance art'. Again, full-screen mode is recommended.
Kudos to Decio Lourenco for his amazing skills, and to Mercedes-Benz South Africa for having had the sense to see an opportunity like this and make the most of it.
Peter
3 comments:
WOW X2!!! Amazing video in both, and that run through the water on the ad was scary...
Here's a video of him and the guy who was driving the car behind him (in the first video) and they said that they believed the car is what triggered the camera (since the car was going as fast as he was).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OESnbtxwJ6U
(about 2:00 minute mark)
Secondly, it was 68 KPH, as he looks to be doing around 40 to 45 MPH. Still faster than I'd ever go on a skateboard, regardless.
Yeah, both videos are pretty fantastic. And, the background video that Shrimp linked is well worth the watch as well.
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