Tag Archives: Bugatti

LEGO Technic H1 2023 | Set Previews

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This week marks the start of a brand a new year, and thus, as is customary, our sneaky Elves have unearthed all the brand new for 2023 LEGO Technic sets! So, following our reveal of the awesome looking 42154 Ford GT earlier in the week, here is every new addition to the LEGO Technic line-up due to reach stores in the first half of 2023…

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42147 Dump Truck

Kicking off the new 2023 Technic range is this, the 42147 Dump Truck. Consisting of 177 pieces and aimed at ages 7+, 42147 looks like a great way to introduce Technic to younger builders, with working ‘HOG’ steering, a tipping bucket, and a good level of visual detail that reasonably approximates any number of generic compact trucks common across Asia in particular. 42147 costs around £9, can also be built as a rather decent looking excavator, and is available to buy now.

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42148 Snow Groomer

Alternatively, with the same target age and just one difference in the piece count, your £9 for a Technic starter set could be spent on this; the 42148 Snow Groomer. 42148 also looks pretty good to us, and includes mechanical levers to operate the front blade and the rear smoothing, um… thingy. Like 42147 above, an alternative model can also be constructed (in this case the worst-looking snowmobile we’ve ever seen) and is available to buy now.

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42149 Monster Jam Dragon & 42150 Monster Jam Monster Mutt

It wouldn’t be a New Year Set Preview without a pair of pull-backs. Fortunately after some dismal efforts a few years ago, LEGO seem to have struck gold with the officially-licensed ‘Monster Jam’ series, which are perfect for pull-back tomfoolery. 2023 sees another two real-world monster trucks from the American arena spectacular immortalised in brick-form, one of which is giant dog. There’s a green dragon or something too, but if you don’t want the giant dog there’s something wrong with you. Each set costs around £18, and both are available to buy now. Buy the dog.

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42151 Bugatti Bolide

Continuing LEGO’s partnership with Bugatti, which has produced such sets as the huge Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron, comes the 905-piece 42151 Bugatti Bolide. Nope, we hadn’t heard of it either. Apparently the Bolide is a $4million track-only hypercar limited to just 40 units, due for delivery some time in 2024. Unless you buy this one of course, which is available now for £45. That price still seems rather a lot for a set that has only working steering and a miniature V16 piston engine for its technical features, but hey – it’s got lots of stickers, some new panels, and lightsabers for rear lights.

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42152 Firefighter Aircraft

This is more like it. Looking a bit like a Canadair CL-215 water bomber (but distinct enough not to require licensing…), 42152 brings some decent technical functions to the Technic line-up in aircraft form. And it can dump blue bricks from its hold.

Retractible landing gear, a working tail rudder, propellors that spin when the model is pushed along the floor (with its landing gear retracted), and a lever to dump the ‘water’ all feature, as do a few new pieces not seen before – including some curved corner sloped panels that’ll you’ll soon be able to find listed on Bricklink at an enormous cost. Aimed at ages 10+, 42152 is a welcome addition to the Technic hangar and will reach stores later this quarter.

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42153 NASCAR Next-Gen Chevrolet Camaro

It’s time for some double branding with this; the 42153 NASCAR Next-Gen Chevrolet Camaro. Looking rather good (albeit in a very be-stickered way), the new 42153 set brings next-generation NASCAR to the LEGO Technic line-up. And by ‘next-generation’ we mean, ‘exactly the same as NASCAR has always been’. Cue angry comments from NASCAR fans.

Costing the same £45 as the 42151 Bugatti-we’d-never-heard-of above, but with some 230 fewer pieces, 42153 looks to be even poorer value, featuring only a working miniature V8 engine and ‘HOG’ steering. It does look nice though, and will reach stores in March 2023.

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42155 The Batman – Batcycle

2023’s final new addition is this, the 42155 The Batman – Batcycle, which we should write in all-caps but can’t bring ourselves to. We haven’t seen 2022’s ‘The Batman’ movie, having decided that ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy cannot be bettered, but apparently this features in it. It’s no Tumbler…

But it is quite a nice looking motorcycle we have to admit, and includes an H4 engine, working suspension (via new shock absorbers in black), steering, and a phat set of tyres on new black rims. Expect 641 pieces, a 9+ target age, and £50 price-tag when 42155 lands on shelves in March 2023.

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And there you have it, the complete line-up of new LEGO Technic sets for the first half of 2023. Which new Technic sets do you think are worth having? Us… we’ll take the Ford GT.

Anglo-French Relations

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The British and French don’t often collaborate. In fact over much of their history it’s been quite the opposite, with the two countries regularly trying to blow one another up.

These days (and post-Brexit) there’s just a simmering dislike that only manifests itself in sport and stealing one another’s scallops, but despite this there have been some notable (and remarkable) collaborations between the two nations.

The longest under-sea tunnel in the world, the world’s first supersonic airliner, and Kristin Scott-Thomas are all worthy partnerships, and back in the 1930s Britain and France worked together on cars too.

This is the Bugatti Type 41 Park Ward, a luxurious grand limousine from the golden era of coach-building.

Park Ward, better known for re-bodying Rolls Royces, created this beautifully opulent vehicle upon Bugatti’s fourth Type 41 (Royale) chassis for Captain Cuthbert W. Foster, a department store heir, in 1933.

Still to this day one of the largest cars ever built, the car now resides in a museum in France, where it’s worth more than all the scallops in the English channel.

Fortunately Flickr’s 1corn has created one that – at 1:25 scale – is rather more attainable, and there’s more to see of his wonderful brick-built Bugatti Type 41 at his photostream; Click the link above to take the Channel Tunnel and fight over some marine molluscs.

My Other’s Truck’s a Bugatti

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Is there anything in the vehicular world more pointless than truck racing? OK, The Brothers Brick’s review of the blue LEGO Fiat 500 set – which is exactly the same as the yellow one, only blue – probably takes the win, but truck racing is a close second.

Why take something designed specifically to pull heavy things long distances in the most fuel efficient way, and adapt it to go a short distance quickly whilst pulling nothing? It’s like using an airliner as the basis for a powerboat.

Anyway, pointlessness of source material aside, TLCB Master MOCer Nico71 has created a rather excellent racing truck from his 42083 Technic Bugatti Chiron set, with steering, an eight-speed sequential gearbox, functioning suspension, a working piston engine, and a tilting cab.

Nico’s made building instructions of his alternate available too, so you can convert your own 42083 Bugatti Chiron set into this brilliant Lego version of the world’s most pointless racing vehicle at home.

There’s more of Nico’s Bugatti B-Model to see at his Brickshelf gallery by clicking here, you can read his Master MOCers interview here at TLCB via the link in the text link above, and you can watch all of the race truck’s features in action in the video below.

YouTube Video

Packing 8*

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This is a 1926 Bugatti Type 41 Packard Prototype, and it reminds us an awful lot of a particular vehicular Family Guy scene. Because we’re children.

The Type 41 was Bugatti’s first rolling chassis, fitted with a modified Packard body and a comically enormous 14.7 litre straight-eight aero engine. Which explains the Bugatti’s unfeasibly long bonnet, because when you’re packing 8 it’s rather hard to hide it.

This beautifully neat Model Team recreation of the Type 41 is the work of 1corn of Flickr, and there’s more to see of his exceedingly long package, sorry Packard-based Bugatti via the link above.

*Also because we’re children

My Other Car’s a Bugatti

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Bugatti’s Chiron probably shares more than a few parts with the Audi R8, what with both of them coming from the Volkswagen Empire. In fact we wouldn’t be surprised if the Chiron and the R8 share the odd part with a Skoda too, but that’s probably kept quiet…

Michal Wolski (aka Porsche96) has gone considerably further though, building his Audi R8 only from parts found within the 42083 Technic Bugatti Chiron set.

Michal’s alternate is just as features-packed as the donor set too, with all-wheel-suspension, a working V10 engine hooked up to a 4-speed sequential gearbox, steering by both the wheel and ‘Hand of God’, and a functioning convertible roof.

Full build details and a link to building instructions can be found at the Eurobricks forum, whist a complete gallery of images is available to view via both Bricksafe and Flickr. Click the links to take a closer look at Michal’s Bugatti-based R8, and if you’re feeling inspired we’d like to see a Chiron-based Skoda!

Centodieci

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This is the Bugatti Centodieci, a Chiron-based, $9million, 10 unit hypercar. But if you’re a bit short of $9m, Fabrice Larcheveque has the answer. Suggested by a reader, Fabrice’s Speed Champions version of the Centodieci captures the real car rather well, despite wheels that are Speed-Champions-but-not-hypercar appropriate, and there’s more to see on Flickr via the link.

Atlantic

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The ocean that separates TLCB from the majority of you reading this has been used several times in car naming. This is perhaps the most impressive car to wear the oceanic nameplate, the Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic. Just four Atlantics were built, meaning each is worth roughly a trillion dollars, but fortunately thanks to a reader suggestion this one is rather more attainable. RGB900 is the builder and he’s captured the 1930s masterpiece beautifully in a tiny scale. Head to Flickr to see more.

My Other Truck’s a Truck. And a Bugatti…

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…and a whatever this is. Making their TLCB debut with not one but three creations is Wojtek Hildebrandt, who has constructed a trio of alternates for TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition.

The first is – apparently – a ‘Mechanical Ant’, built from the Technic 42080 Forest Machine set, and it’s terrifying. Particularly if you’re an Elf, because through a combination of mechanical, pneumatic, and motorised functions, all of those spiky-looking implements can be made to whirl menacingly. There’s articulated steering too, making the ant easily manoeuvrable, and a rotating and raising cabin to get a better view of the carnage occurring beneath. Head to Wojtek’s ‘Mechanical Ant’ album on Flickr by clicking here to see more.

Wojtek’s second contest entry takes the enormous Technic 42078 Mack Anthem set (which includes instructions for one of LEGO’s best B-Models in years), and adds another alternative build, this rather brilliant Mack terminal tractor. A working six-cylinder engine sits alongside the offset cab, which features a rotating seat and working steering. The huge parts source has also allowed Wojtek to build an assortment of towing options, including an articulated trailer and a sliding container mount for the truck itself. Find out more by clicking here.

Wojtek’s final competition entry is even more unusual, and takes one of LEGO’s most iconic recent sets, the spectacular Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron, to create this; the ‘Bugatti EB-Double’. A twin V8-engined truck complete with a Bugatti grille and taillights from the Chiron, Wojtek’s creation features working steering, a huge deployable rear wing (that operates automatically depending upon which of the four gears is selected), working suspension, and a cab that does something very weird indeed, converting the ‘EB-Double’ into a Mercedes-Benz Renntransporter-esque vehicle for maximum originality points. There’s more to see of Wojtek’s amazing alternate on Flickr – click here to make the jump!

My Other Car’s a Beetle. Mostly.

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This is a Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic, one of the rarest and most expensive cars ever produced. Just four SC Atlantics were built, named for Ettore Bugatti’s friend whose plane crashed into the Atlantic after an engine failure. Today the cars command a price in the millions, so it’s quite cool to see one built (almost) from the parts of a vehicle far more humble, the Volkswagen Beetle (and VW of course who now own the Bugatti marque).

95% of the Bugatti’s pieces come from the Creator 10252 Volkswagen Beetle set (606 of the 640 used), meaning that builder ZetoVince almost qualifies for TLCB’s B-Model Lock-Down Competition. But not quite. Still, it’s an excellent build and one you can see more of at Zeto’s photostream; click the link above to make the jump and take a look, and if you’d like to create your own B-Model and be in with a chance to win an awesome SBrick Plus Pro Pack take a look at the competition by clicking here.

Bugatti in Bricks

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Bugatti haven’t always made Veyrons and Chiron’s under the directorship of the Volkswagen Empire. We’ve written about their historic limousines and racing cars here, but there was a weird period in the middle where they were owned by an Italian entrepreneur and they made this; the V12 quad-turbo-charged EB110. Launched in the early ’90s just 139 EB110s were produced before the company folded in 1995. Micheal Schumacher bought one.

Not enough super-wealthy individuals did though, leading to the Bugatti factory being bought by a furniture maker and their sister brand Lotus being sold to Proton. Still it all worked out in the end as Volkswagen purchased the defunct brand in 1998, used it to set about making the world’s fastest production car, and the rest is history.

Fabrice Larcheveque remembers the weird period though, building this fabulous Speed Champions interpretation of Bugatti’s early ’90s oddity. He’s captured the unique-looking supercar superbly too, and you can see more of his 8-wide EB110 at his Flickr album by clicking here.

Two for Tuesday

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It’s a supercar double at The Lego Car Blog today with two builds from the aptly named 3D supercarBricks. Both 3D’s Bugatti Chiron (above) and Koenigsegg Jesko (below) replicate their real-life counterparts superbly, with the Jesko finished by the addition of some excellent custom 3D printed wheels. There’s more to see of each build on Flickr – click the links above to take a look.

Bugatti Centodieci | Picture Special

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This is the Bugatti Centodieci, a nine million dollar hypercar based on the Chiron, with a planned production of just ten units. Bet those Chiron owners aren’t feeling quite as special anymore…

No matter, because car-building legend Firas Abu-Jaber has done his bit to make the Centodieci a little bit less exclusive by upping their number by 10%; this is his astonishingly accurate Model Team recreation of Bugatti’s rarest (and most expensive) modern car.

Built in 1:16 scale Firas’ Bugatti Centodieci includes a beautifully detailed interior behind some gloriously clever hinged doors (although as the public haven’t yet seen how the real car’s doors open they are admittedly a bit of a guess), and a replica of the quad-turbo W16 engine below the opening engine cover.

There are plenty more images of Firas’ incredible creation to see at his Bugatti Centodieci album on Flickr, and you can read his interview here at TLCB as part of the Master MOCers series by clicking here.

My Other Car is a Bugatti

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Lego Technic 42083 B-Model

A few Formula 1 drivers may well be able to say that their other car is a Bugatti Chiron. Today through, we’re reversing that, as this single-seat open-wheel racing car is constructed purely from the pieces around within LEGO’s flagship 42083 Technic Bugatti Chiron set.

Designed by Technic legend and TLCB Master MOCer Paul Boratko aka Crowkillers, this brilliant Bugatti B-Model includes a four-speed paddle-shift gearbox with a reverse and neutral switch, working steering and suspension, and a V10 engine.

Paul calls his B-Model a Formula 1 car, but we’re more in the mind of an Indycar or Formula-E racer, what with the Bugatti’s large wheels and the swoopy bodywork, although that enormous V10 is most unlike Formula-E (and even Formula 1 these days).

Whatever it is it’s a fine B-Model that’s well worth a closer look, especially if you’re lucky enough to own a 42083 Chiron set yourself. Head to Eurobricks by clicking here to see more images and a video of the model’s features.

Lego Technic 42083 B-Model

Royally Posh

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Lego Bugatti Royale

Long before the Veyron, Chiron and Volkswagen ownership, Bugatti made some very posh cars. So posh in fact that the people who owned them didn’t drive the car themselves, and they didn’t even give their driver a roof, so that he would know his place.

This is one such car, the Bugatti Royale, of which just seven were produced. Powered by a 12.7litre straight-8 and measuring 21ft in length (significantly larger than even a modern-day Rolls Royce Phantom) the Royale was released just as the Great Depression hit, and it was a gigantic flop. Of the seven made only three were sold to paying customers, although to be fair to Ettore Bugatti he did apparently refuse to sell one to the King of Albania on account of his poor table manners.

This lovely Town-scale recreation of the Royale comes from ER0L of Flickr and there’s more to see at his photostream via think above. If your table manners are good enough.

Life-Size LEGO Bugatti Chiron… That Really Drives.

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Lego Technic Bugatti Chiron Life-Size

LEGO’s enormous 3,600 piece 42083 Technic Bugatti Chiron is very probably the greatest set in the brand’s already impressive history. Designed with Bugatti themselves and featuring a replica W16 engine and an eight-speed paddle-shift gearbox, 42083 has taken Technic building to new heights.

But what if you had access to another 996,400 pieces and almost 13,500 man-hours? Cue a gravelly-voiced narrator and some overly dramatic music…

Yes LEGO have built their 42083 Bugatti Chiron set for real, and not only that they’ve made it really, actually, genuinely drive too. No glue was used anywhere in the build and the power comes from 2,304 LEGO Technic Power Functions electric motors – the very same ones that you can buy in stores.

Life Size Lego Bugatti Chiron

With a weight of around 1.5 tons and an estimated 5.3bhp and 92N/m of torque, the fully-functioning speedometer aboard the life-size Technic Chiron was unlikely to read anywhere close to the real Chiron’s 260mph+ top speed.

However just to be safe (or because it’s very cool!), LEGO put Le Mans winner and actual Bugatti development driver Andy Wallace behind the brick-built steering wheel for the car’s test run at the Ehra Lessien track.

Life Size Lego Bugatti Chiron

It’s one heck of an achievement and one that’s unlikely to be topped unless LEGO find of way of making a working space shuttle. You can find out more about this amazing feat at LEGO’s Bugatti ‘Build for Real’ website, and you see a rather more home-built attempt at creating a fully-drivable life-size car from LEGO bricks by clicking here.

LEGO Technic Bugatti Chiron Life Size