FOCAL member likes his Acura MDX so much, he made a commercial about it
Imagine you are a storm chaser who has been tracking a severe storm for several miles when it finally decides to produce a tornado at the very point your paved road ends.
That is what seemingly happened to veteran storm chaser Martin Lisius in Texas last year. “There were several chasers who stopped at that point and diverted to a highway many miles south in hopes of re-intercepting the storm later,” Lisius said. “But I saw an unpaved road there, and knew I would need to give it a try if I had any chance of tracking the tornado that was just developing.” Lisius would need to travel nearly 30 miles east on a dirt road across rural King and Knox counties to reach the next paved highway. That roadway was full of gullies, a canyon, and several steep hills. “I was driving my all-wheel-drive Acura MDX which had always done well as a ‘soft-roader,’ so I knew the potential was there to make it through.” His vehicle kept up with the storm and he was able to see and photograph several tornadoes from behind.
Lisius was so impressed with how his MDX has performed on chases, he decided to make a commercial about it. “Friends look at my car and they see a luxury SUV. Then, they look at me and ask where my chase vehicle is. It makes me smile because behind that pretty face, there’s some very capable engineering including a tried-and-true Honda V6 engine, and a reliable torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system.” Lisius said it is no coincidence he tracks storms with an Acura MDX. “I bought an MDX for one purpose: to get me to great storms. The fact that it is also good at hauling groceries is just a bonus.”
Despite his success, Lisius cautions others. “It’s important to note that I was tracking the storm from behind that day, and was never in its path.” He says that storm chasing requires a unique set of skills and a commitment to safety, and should never be attempted casually
The commercial was produced, filmed and directed by Lisius this year, primarily in Texas.
Watch the Acura MDX “Storm Chaser” commercial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQD1COQPAgo(posted today, 8/15/2023)
Watch the Acura MDX “Storm Chaser” (Director’s Cut) commercial here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F-6c7N-eO0&t=0s (posted today, 8/15/2023)
All weather content was filmed by Lisius and is available through his StormStock collection.
ABOUT: Martin Lisius has been tracking storms since 1987. He is chairman of the Texas Severe Storms Association (www.tessa.org), a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to severe weather education, and a trained RACES (www.usraces.org) storm spotter. Trained storm spotters assist the National Weather Service in protecting communities from hazardous weather. Lisius is also the founder of Prairie Pictures’ StormStock (www.stormstock.com), a collection of innovative and award-winning weather and climate content licensed for use in feature films, commercials and documentaries. And, he is president and founder at Tempest Tours (www.tempesttours.com), an experiential travel company specializing in storm chasing expeditions since 2000.
CONTACT: Kim George, [email protected]