LEGO Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna | Set Preview

4 Replies

LEGO and McLaren have been hard at work, because the Speed Champions 76919 2023 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car is not the only new McLaren Formula 1 set to arrive in 2024. This is the new LEGO Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna!

Arriving in March of this year, 10330 brings one of Formula 1’s most famous cars to the Icons range; the McLaren-Honda MP4/4, which – in the hands of Aytron Senna and Alain Prost – won an incredible 15 of the 16 races in the 1988 Formula 1 season, and gave Senna his first Driver’s World Championship.

The first LEGO set to wear the Honda badge (which means we might get to see more Honda sets in future), 10330 is constructed from 693 pieces and includes working steering, a detailed (but non-working) replica of the RA168E V6 turbo engine, suspension (we’re guessing rubber blocks rather than springs here…), plus authentic slick tyres and sponsors. Those tyres will be particularly exciting for many Lego fans, who’ve never yet had access to non-treaded rubber.

But what of the 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna set’s ‘& Ayrton Senna’ bit? Well, the late Ayrton Senna’s name is a carefully curated brand in its own right these days, and 10330 duly comes with an inappropriately-sized mini-figure that looks vaguely like him.

However with under 700 pieces yet costing $80/£70, we’d rather have saved a few quid to not have the pointless mini-figure and additional branding associated with it. Still, LEGO no doubt calculated the ‘& Ayrton Senna’ bit resonates with the set’s 18+ target age group, and thus kinda-Senna is here, holding a trophy and looking rather superfluous alongside the racing car in which he drove.

Dubious mini-figure inclusion and high price aside though, the LEGO Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 (& Ayrton Senna) set does look rather excellent, and you’ll be able to get your hands on one when they reach stores in March of this year.

eHatch

Leave a reply

The piston engine, a staple fixture in any mid-size Technic vehicle and up, will one day become a rarity. The immediate future of propulsion is electric, and it’s surely not long before Technic sets shift to reflect their real-world counterparts.

Previous bloggee and Master MOCer Thirdwigg is there already, with this neat ‘eHatch’, a small, all-wheel-drive electric hot hatchback.

A brick built ‘motor’ in each axle is driven as the wheels turn, the front wheels steer by both ‘HOG’ and the steering wheel, and the doors and hood open too.

Free building instructions are available if you fancy going electric yourself, and you can find them along with further details and imagery at both Eurobricks and Flickr.

Speed Champions 76919 2023 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car | Set Preview

2 Replies

During our reveal of the 2024 LEGO Speed Champions sets, fans may have noticed that one number, 76919, was missing. Well it’s missing no more; this is the brand new 76919 2023 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car!

Replicating last year’s podium-placing McLaren MCL60 racing car (although peculiarly not called that), 76919 recreates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s 2023 challenger from 245 papaya and black pieces, and about the same number of stickers.

It’s here we’d normally bemoan the stickerage, but in the case of a Formula 1 car, where the real thing wears sponsors on every inch of bodywork, they create wonderful authenticity. Every real McLaren Team sponsor is included, even the dodgy crypto-currency ones, whilst the slick tyres wear accurate Pirelli-printed type too.

The new 76919 2023 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car will reach stores in March of 2024, and we’re hoping it’s the start of many more LEGO Speed Champions replica F1 racers.

Bygone Motorsport Win

Leave a reply

Endurance racing is about to get properly exciting. After years of single team dominance due to limited competition, this year nineteen entrants across nine manufacturers will compete for the outright win.

One of several new or returning manufacturers, BMW will rejoin the top tier of endurance racing nearly a quarter of a century since they competed with this, the wild V12 LMR.

Using the same the engine as the Le Mans winning McLaren F1 GTR, the BMW V12 LM was developed with then-Formula 1 World Champions Williams, and deployed the new open-cockpit prototype rules against the old-school sports car designs in use by other teams. And it was… rubbish.

Slow, unreliable, and retiring after just a few dozen laps, the 1998 car was a disaster. So BMW and Williams started again, and returned in 1999 with this, the radically re-designed V12 LMR.

The all-new bodywork transformed the car, with it qualifying on pole and winning the first race it entered, at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

The big prize however was Le Mans, and despite fierce competition from Audi, Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and others, it was a BMW V12 LMR that took (perhaps thanks to a little bit of luck) the overall win. Quite a turnaround from the embarrassment of the year before.

The team entered again in 2000, but a decade-long period of total Audi dominance had begun, and thus BMW withdrew the V12 LMR before the season was up.

BMW turned their attention instead to Formula 1, where the team continued their successful partnership with Williams. Thus without the V12 LMR, a BMW engine may never again have powered a race-winning Formula 1 car.

Suggested to us by a reader, PROTOTYP. of Flickr remembers BMW’s Le Mans glory with his fantastic V12 LMR model, riding atop 3D-printed replica wheels and with stunning period-correct vinyl decals.

Superbly presented, there’s more of the model to see at PROTOTYP.’s ‘BMW LMR LMP Le Mans 1999’ album, and you can click the link above to jump back to Le Mans 1999. BMW will sure be remembering it too, as they return to Le Mans later this year, some 25 years on…

Technically Roving

Leave a reply

The annual space-based buildathon that is Febrovery is here for another year, in which a myriad of mini-figure scale lunar rover of all shapes, themes, colours and sizes will join the thousands already present in the long-running Flickr group.

Previous bloggee Nikolaus Lowe is roving rather differently however, having built his Febrovery entry in Technic-figure scale. It’s also rather contemporary looking, owing more than a little of its aesthetic to the 1971 ‘LRV’ (or ‘moon buggy’), the only actual manned lunar rover to exist.

Working steering and a constantly rotating radar dish are included, and you join Nikolaus technically roving at his photostream. Click the link above to get your rove on.

Case Study

Leave a reply

Whilst we are predominantly a Car Blog, we do like a Big Red Tractor. Because we’re children. And this one is excellent.

Constructed by newcomer Jacob Sitzberger it’s a Case IH 395, the smallest of Case’s 1990s 95-series tractors.

No only is Jacob’s model beautifully detailed, it also includes a working three-cylinder engine, a steered front axle with pendulum suspension, a rear power-take-off and three-point-hitch, and it comes with a variety of attachments.

An extensive gallery of images is available to view at Jacob’s ‘Case IH 395’ album on Flickr, where a link to its LEGO Ideas page can also be found. Click the link above to make the jump if you like Big Red Tractors as much as we do.

Brickin’ Bronco

Leave a reply

Ford have decided to stop selling anything that’s not an SUV. Or a Mustang. Which is both a shame and very possibly a mistake. However their renewed SUV-focus has brought about the return of one of the brand’s most famous 4×4 nameplates; the Bronco.

Aimed squarely at the Jeep Wrangler, the new Ford Bronco looks pretty cool, in the blocky-retro way that is in-vogue with car designers at present. It also looks pretty cool when made from actual blocks, as today’s Technic example proves.

Built by newcomer GoldenBrickDesign, and suggested by a reader, this superbly-engineered recreation of the latest Bronco is packed with functionality. There’s remote control all-wheel-drive, steering, winch, sequential gearbox, and locking differentials, removable (and opening) doors and roof, a 4-cylinder piston engine (which is also motorised and can even ‘idle’) under the opening hood, and seriously capable all-wheel-suspension.

It’s a technical tour-de-force and you can check all of that out at GoldenBrickDesign’s ‘Ford Bronco Everglades’ Bricksafe album and via Youtube, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

It almost makes us think the Bronco makes up for losing the Fiesta and Focus. Click the links above to take a look.

Street Cat

Leave a reply

American muscle cars are taking the Thundercougarfalconbird approach to their increasingly stupid names, power outputs, and permi-vaping, street take-overing, douchebag target market.

This is one such car, the ‘Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat’, and if that isn’t risible enough, you can optionally add ‘Redeye’ onto the end too, AKA ‘Desperate to Prove Masculinity’.

This one – soon to be found doing poorly executed donuts across an intersection at the hands of a permi-vaping douchebag – is the work of the very talented Mihail Rakovskiy, who has appeared here several times with his superb Model Team modern muscle cars.

Opening doors, hood and trunk, plus a detailed engine, interior, and chassis all feature, and you can stand in a circle at a crossroads shouting “Oooh shiiiit!!” via Mihail’s ‘Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat’ album via the link above.

Beige Box

Leave a reply

Russian exports have taken a bit of a hit since the country decided to invade its neighbour. However Russian products used to be exported to rather more countries than you might expect, including TLCB’s home nation. This was one such item, the Fiat-derived Lada Riva.

Launched in the UK in 1983, up to 30,000 Rivas were sold annually by the late ’80s, to customers looking for the cheapest new car available, and of whom 80%’s favourite colour seemed to be beige.

The Riva continued in the UK virtually unchanged for over a decade, before Lada finally withdrew from the market in 1997 as newer Hyundai, Kia, and Proton products outcompeted the Niva at the cheapest end of the new car market.

Today there are very few Nivas left on our roads, but not because they’re unreliable. Rather, the UK’s high maintenance standards and low used car prices meant thousands were re-exported back to Russia, where they were seen as better examples than domestic units.

This one, in the pre-requisite beige, is the work of previous bloggee Legostalgie, who has captured the soviet three-box sedan brilliantly in brick form. There are four opening doors, a detailed interior, a life-like engine under the opening hood, plus an opening trunk, and you can build one for yourself too as instructions are available.

There’s more to see at Legostalgie’s ‘Lada Riva / VAZ-2107’ album on Flickr, and you can jump to Britain in 1988, or Russia anytime since then, via the text above.

One Man Went To Mow

Leave a reply

LEGO’s new 42168 John Deere 9700 Forage Harvester recreates a machine designed to cut enormous fields of crops. But what if your pasture is rather… smaller?

Previous bloggee damjan97PL / damianPLE has the answer, having deconstructed his 42168 set to create this humble lawn tractor, complete with working steering and a mower that rotates when lowered.

Building instructions are available and there’s more of Damian’s ride-on mower to see at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe. Now we just need him to deconstruct this to build an even smaller push-along mower for us here at TLCB Towers…

Argyle Street

Leave a reply

Hong Kong. Vibrant, busy, and one of the most densely-populated territories on the world, with over seven million people squeezed into just 425 square miles.

This means the buildings are tall and the streets are packed, as captured beautifully by Yama Jason in this wonderful street scene.

Depicting Argyle Street in Kowloon – named after a British merchant ship that used to sail from the island – Yama’s diorama is bursting with life, from the fire truck and cars on the road to the dozens of mini-figures crowding the pavements.

Fantastic details and clever building techniques appear everywhere you look, and you can join the bustle of mini-figure Hong Kong at Yama’s photostream via the link above.

Toyota-ish

2 Replies

When is a Toyota not a Toyota? When it’s a BMW or a Subaru… At least if the JDM-fanatics of the internet’s comments section are correct.

They’re not correct of course, because a) the fanatics of any brand are morons, and b) because globalisation is the way the car industry operates, and has done for decades.

There are Toyotas that are Mazdas and vice-versa, Toyotas that are Subarus and vice-versa, Toyotas that are Suzukis and vice-versa… and the list goes on and on, including Peugeots, Citroens, Opels, Fiats, Volkswagens, Daihatsus, Chevrolets…

“But what about the Supra?”, the internet cries! Well that does use BMW bits, but they were arranged by Toyota. And put together by neither company. Plus – whisper it – there are BMWs with Toyota parts too…

Thus we’d happily have a Toyota Supra, or a GT86, each of which shares more than a little with cars from other manufacturers.

Cue newcomer builtbydave_’s awesome modified versions of the Toyota Supra and GR86, er… we mean Subaru BRZ, each wearing a wide-arch body kit that makes them even less Toyotary than when they left the factory.

Photographed brilliantly and featuring some clever building techniques, each ‘Toyota’ is well worth a closer look, and you can do just that at builtbydave_’s ‘Subaru BRZ’ and ‘Streethunter Toyota Supra’ albums respectively. Just don’t look too closely or you might find a BMW logo…

Is It a Train? Is It a Tram?

Leave a reply

No, it’s an NS omC! OK, that’s maybe not as catchy as the famous Superman musical lyrics, but we have at least learned something here at The Lego Car Blog, having had no idea what an ‘omC’ was before today.

What it is, is an ‘Oilmotor Vehicle’, a combustion-engined carriage used by the Dutch Railways during the 1920s as a cheaper, easier-to-run alternative to steam locomotives.

This one – being a ‘C’ designation – is for third-class passengers, which is where you’d probably find TLCB staff. There were ‘BC’ versions too, where first-class passengers such as The Brothers Brick’s Contributors could luxuriate away from the peasants.

Constructed by TLCB debutant Malik Geldermans, this 1:45th scale replica of the NS omC beautifully captures the real ‘Oilmotor Vehicle’ thanks to some truly fantastic building techniques.

Presented perfectly, there’s more of Malik’s model to see at his ‘NS omC’ album, and you can take a closer look on Flickr via the link in the text above.

Greeble Farm

Leave a reply

‘Greebling’, one of many nerdisms from the Online Lego Community, involves outfitting a creation – usually a spacecraft – with a myriad of tiny grey pieces to add texture, complexity, and to make them look more science-fiction-y.

But those little grey parts, so often individually lost in sea of their neighbours, can look brilliant in insolation, as proven here by previous bloggee Andre Pinto, and this wonderful vintage tractor.

Comprising only a handful of pieces, they form the engine, drive-line, light brackets, exhaust, rear hitch and PTO, and have been perfectly selected for each task.

There’s more to see at Andre’s ‘My First Tractor’ album, and you can head to the greeble farm via the link above.

Gander at This Goose

Leave a reply

As the long-suffering sci-fi fans who frequent this site will know, The Lego Car Blog Team are uniformly crap at understanding, explaining, or writing about spaceships.

Fortunately today though, The One and Only Mr.R – builder of this splendid example – has written rather a lot about it. Which we’re going to pinch.

A ‘G-005 “Goose” Light Courier Ship’, it comes from the early days of space trading, “when there was high demand for light couriers to deliver messages, products, and passengers between star systems… Those early days of trading may be over, but some mercenary crews continue to fly these ships… While courier missions may be harder to find, the crew of the Goose is ready to tackle them in order to continue living a free spirited life in the cosmos”.

Which means it sounds like that guy in the battered minivan you see most days delivering parcels in your neighbourhood. But in space.

No matter, because The One and Only My.R’s design is fantastic, with complicated angles meeting beautifully, yet still appearing utilitarian and nondescript, excellent brick-built lettering, and a truly wonderful interior, complete with cockpit, sleeping quarters, kitchen, life-support equipment, bathroom, and airlock.

There’s loads more of the ‘Goose’ to see at The One and Only Mr.R’s photostream, and you can place your interstellar delivery via the link in the text above.