How does Ford record high speed chases?
Ford has teamed up with camera car company Pursuit Systems to leverage Edge ST’s combination of performance and utility. Together, Ford and Pursuit have built an Edge ST camera car designed to film high-speed chase scenes and other hard-to-capture action footage for upcoming movies and commercial projects.
Camera cars are high-performance vehicles capable of supporting a remote-controlled, roof-mounted crane that might weigh up to 1,000 pounds. The vehicles are often required to travel in excess of 100 mph, offer precise braking and handling, and ideally provide enough space to accommodate a film crew and equipment.
Early on, a Pursuit team traveled from its headquarters in North Hollywood to Dearborn for an initial look at the first SUV from Ford Performance. Edge ST’s versatility and capabilities immediately signaled its star power.
Features that drew the crew at Pursuit to Edge ST were its specially tuned, twin-turbocharged 2.7-liter EcoBoost® V6 engine, ST performance brake system, quick-shifting 8-speed transmission and selectable traction control – all made available in a roomy midsize SUV package. Edge ST, available in showrooms now, is the first-ever SUV from the Ford Performance team.
“Speed, acceleration, braking, handling, even roominess – Edge ST has it all,” said Mike Johnson, racer, stunt driver and Pursuit Systems president and CEO. “Our shoots often demand a lot of the equipment we use, and especially the vehicles. In every way, Edge ST measures up.”
Transforming Edge ST into a camera car meant adding structural support to its roof to accommodate equipment, including the nearly 1,000-pound Pursuit Arm. This arm, typically equipped with a gyro-stabilized remote-control camera, can extend far away from the vehicle, giving filmmakers the ability to capture unique angles of high-speed action.
Other conversion work included:
- Retuning the twin-turbo 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine to counter the weight of the crane and other film equipment
- Adding individual-wheel air suspension to manage the weight increase
- Adding roll cage support to protect passengers
- Gutting the interior to accommodate film equipment
- Adding wiring for video monitors so crew members can see footage in real-time
- Wrapping the exterior in matte black vinyl so it doesn’t reflect in other vehicles
“We’ve never done anything like this before with an SUV because there’s never been an SUV like Edge ST in our showroom,” said Mark Grueber, Ford SUV marketing manager. “It has the performance chops and utility to keep up with fast-paced moviemaking.”
This one-of-a-kind Edge ST camera car will join the Pursuit Systems stable of high-performance vehicles, taking its place along camera cars converted from a BMW X5 M, Porsche Cayenne Turbo and a Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG. Pursuit plans to use it in future film and commercial projects.
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