The $90K Camera Car: Porsche Apprentices Built a 345 HP 3-Seat 718 Boxster S

Cars and cameras have been a thing forever. Whether it's capturing design details or high-speed track action, motorsport photography has come a long way from those giant, clunky cameras to the tiny powerhouses photographers use today.

Back in 2017, Porsche had a problem at their California Experience Center. Their old photography buggy—a beat-up older Boxster—couldn't keep up with the cars zipping around the track anymore. So they did what Porsche does: they built something better. Nine apprentices, led by training supervisor Carsten Pohle, spent their entire second year building a one-of-a-kind camera car based on a 718 Boxster S.

They Literally Cut The Roof Off

The team started with a regular production Boxster S and went to town on it. Off came the soft-top roof. In went a roll bar and steel tube mounts at the front, rear, and sides for mounting cameras at basically any angle. They painted the whole thing matte black to cut down on reflections during shoots. Even the roll bar doubles as a camera mount.

Here's the wild part: most Boxsters have two seats. This one has three, except the third seat isn't actually inside the car. The photographer sits in the luggage compartment—either the front trunk or the rear one, both padded and fitted with harnesses. There's even a standing platform between the front seats and rear trunk, also with safety gear. Basically, the photographer can pick their angle and strap in wherever works best for the shot.

Inside, they added an inverter for charging equipment and ran extra wiring so cameras can plug straight into a laptop, which gets its own secure mount in the cabin. The whole setup's designed to make a photographer's job as easy as possible while flying around a track.

Built On A Boxster S With Serious Speed

The base car was a 2017 718 Boxster S, packing a turbocharged 2.5-liter flat-four that cranks out 345 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque. Zero to 60 in 4.3 seconds, top speed of 177 mph. The "718" name is a throwback to Porsche's race car that dominated the Targa Florio in '59 and '60—both cars share the flat-four engine layout.

The gas-powered Boxster and Cayman are basically done now. They've been phased out internationally, and even in the US, they're on the way out. Porsche's working on an all-electric replacement, though that's been delayed after one of their battery suppliers, Northvolt, went bankrupt. Eventually, an EV version should show up, but nobody's quite sure when.

Living Its Best Life In California

This camera car has been crushing it at Porsche's Experience Center in California, where customers can pick up their new rides with the full VIP treatment—factory tour, track time with a pro instructor, the works. The center's got a track designed by Hermann Tilke that pulls elements from famous circuits around the world, plus a shorter wet track for handling practice and some gnarly off-road sections with steep ramps and water crossings.

The center's open to everyone, not just people picking up cars. There's also a massive EV charging station with a dozen high-powered chargers running 24/7.

Porsche's Always Been About The Track

This camera car project is just a tiny slice of Porsche's motorsport history. The brand made its name in the '50s at races like the Targa Florio and Carrera Panamericana. In 1970, they won Le Mans for the first time—and they've racked up 19 overall wins since, more than any other manufacturer. They've also dabbled in Formula 1 as an engine supplier (McLaren in the '80s was a big one), won the Dakar Rally twice in the mid-'80s, and jumped into Formula E more recently.

Every Porsche has a bit of racing DNA baked in, and this weird three-seat camera car is proof that the line between road car and track machine is thinner than you'd think. It's also a pretty cool showcase of what Porsche's apprentices can pull off when given free rein.