The sheer number of automotive YouTube channel proves it’s not hard to mount a GoPro to a car and pretend you’re bigger than an influencer with a pocket-sized camera. But for bigger projects, a 610-horsepower, 200 mph Lamborghini Huracan rig is a nice alternative.
Incline Dynamic Outlet claims it’s built the world’s fastest purpose-built camera car. The company “rents and operates the most advanced stabilized camera systems for TV shows, commercials, movies—you name it, we put stabilized cameras on it,” according to Nathan Garofalos and Chris Fuelner, who spoke with Jalopnik about the car they’re calling the “Lamborghini Huracam” in a phone call last week.
Nathan and Chris were inspired to build the Huracam after becoming restless working on production of Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch.
“Chris and I were up in Dutch Harbor shooting Deadliest Catch from a truck with one of the gimbals on it. And we’re on this island that the speed limit’s 30 MPH and it’s two miles long and, like, five roads. After a week, we just wanted to go fast,” Nathan told Jalopnik.
“Chris was like, ‘We should put the gimbal on the Huracan.’ One thing led to another, we started talking with our friends to figure out how could this be done, how could it be done safely, and what could we do to make the world’s fastest camera car.”
The car took around seven months to conceptualize and develop in its current state, Nathan said, and there’s plans to take it even farther.
“This isn’t the end-all. We’re also going to have a rear-mount and a top-mount. You can remove it. There’s nothing that was done to modify the frame of the car. It’s just brackets that tie into the frame, and you can still take the gimbal off in an hour and go and re-rig it to something else, and you can put the hood back on the car and go rip around.”
At the time of our call last week, Nathan and Chris hadn’t had a chance to really put the rig through its paces, nor do much testing beyond some quick drives on public roads. They were headed to a production they couldn’t yet talk about. But the Lamborghini Huracan wasn’t just picked for the job because Chris already owned it.
“The Huracan seemed to be the best choice because of it’s maneuverability and handling. We had thought about using an Audi R8 V10 Plus, but that wouldn’t get us low enough to the ground and wasn’t agile enough, even though they’re pretty similar cars,” Nathan said.
Chris added, “We were considering a Huracan GT3 car and just completely building that out. But then we’re like, OK, we put this thing on it and we can’t even go to the grocery store in it to check all the work we did on it. We’d have to rent out a track, or shoot somewhere where it’s not on a public road, and it’s just a hassle. We wanted all-wheel drive, rear-engine to make the build on the front be a lot easier, and then high horsepower and great handling.”
The duo also said the Ferrari FF was briefly considered for its ability to hold more production crew, but it would have lacked most of the benefits of the lower and more capable Huracan.
“The problem with the FF was that it wouldn’t handle and corner as well as the Lamborghini does. Yeah, you know, there’s tons of cars out there that can go in a straight line super fast. Everything from Tesla to the Supra. But going fast in a straight line is much easier than going fast, weaving in and out of traffic, underneath a semi truck, and getting those dynamic shots that people haven’t really been able to get before. That’s what really drove the choice of the car and only going with a two seater.”
When asked about the Bugatti Chiron that was used as a camera car to record the Chiron’s record-setting zero to 240 mph and back to zero time, Nathan claimed that didn’t really count as a camera car.
“We saw the Bugatti that was commissioned to have a gimbal strapped on to the back. Well that’s not really considered a camera car because it wasn’t purpose built. They just put it on there and off they went.”
Incline Dynamic has worked on projects including “everything from Point Break to Deadliest Catch, to Porsche, Subaru and Toyota,” according to Nathan. The website also lists work with Red Bull, Monster Energy, Warner Brothers and more.
The Huracam’s setup is a custom design based on Incline Dynamic’s gyro stabilized rigs, and is capable of taking on any camera and lens setup the client requests. The car is currently using a RED camera capable of 8K resolution.
“We’re able to zoom in to 6,000 mm and read a license plate from a mile away, fully stable,” Nathan said. “We’ve got our gimbals going 380 knots on jets, to being underwater shooting on Deadliest Catch. So, the stability wasn’t the thing, it was more of like how can we create the correct balance and distribution within the car so it still can perform at the manufacturer’s suggested specs, so that we can go and achieve the most dynamic possible with the most control possible.”