Tag Archives: Ferrari

400-Pieces to F40

Leave a reply

The Ferrari F40, even with the immense fame and riches brought in by running this site, is a long way out of reach. Thus the closest this TLCB Writer is going to get to one is in the brick, but fortunately Flickr’s Fuku Saku has it covered, with his stunning 8-wide rendition of the Maranello masterpiece. As realistic as small-scale building gets, Fuku has recreated the F40 in stunning fashion, and he’s released instructions so that you can own the iconic Ferrari too. 400 pieces is all it takes, and you can find out more at Faku’s ‘Ferrari F40’ album via the link above.

Monaco ’88

5 Replies

‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, the Toyota Corolla, and the Monaco Grand Prix. All simultaneously the greatest examples of their respective genres, and also the most boring.

But Formula 1 in Monaco wasn’t always a procession. Before the cars were the size of school buses, which these days makes overtaking impossible, Monaco could put on quite a show.

Back in 1988, even with the complete dominance of the McLaren-Honda MP4/4, the ’88 Monaco Grand Prix delivered. Twenty-six cars started – two of which were even called ‘Megatron’ (seriously, look it up!) – just ten finished, and Ayrton Senna was the class of the field.

Out-qualifying his team-mate Alain Prost by a staggering 1.4 seconds, Senna led the race by almost a minute… until he didn’t. A momentary lapse of concentration eleven laps from the finish and he hit the wall, whereupon he exited his broken McLaren and walked home.

Prost took the win (his forth and final Monaco GP victory), followed by Gerhard Berger’s Ferrari some twenty seconds back. Which means there’s perhaps some artistic license with the cars’ proximity in alex_bricks‘ stunning 1988 Monaco Grand Prix vignette, but in every other respect this is a spectacularly realistic homage to the Monte Carlo street race.

Recreating the circuit as it was in the late-’80s required Alex to watch old race footage (which is surely some of the most fun research required to build a Lego model), matching his brick-built version of the Mediterranean Principality to the televised imagery from the time.

The result is a replica of the streets of Monaco as they were in 1988 so perfect we can practically hear the noise from the Formula 1 cars bouncing off the walls of the buildings, with Alex displaying his incredible build at the Brickfair show earlier in the year.

Fortunately he’s uploaded a few images to Flickr too, so you can join TLCB Team immersing themselves in Monaco in 1988 via his photostream. Click the link above to head the greatest race on the Formula 1 calendar, long before it was boring.

More Endurance

Leave a reply

After years of very limited top-tier competition, the fastest class at Le Mans undergoing a spectacular resurgence. Works teams from Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche, Peugeot, and Cadillac all entered in 2023, with BMW, Lamborghini and Alpine all set to join in the coming years.

The 2023 24 Heures du Mans was won by a jubilant Ferrari, returning almost six decades after their last win, following an epic race-long battle with favourites Toyota. Joining his previously blogged classic Le Mans endurance racers, SFH_Bricks has recreated the 2023-winning Ferrari 499P brilliantly in Speed Champions form, alongside a host of other Hypercar-Class teams from this year’s event.

The second place Toyota GR010, doubtless still miffed at being slowed down by the FIA ‘Balance of Performance’ rules that likely cost them the win, the wonderfully-liveried (if uncompetitive) Penske Racing Porsche 963, and the third-placed Cadillac V-Series.R join the Ferrari 499P in SFH_Bricks’ ‘Le Mans 2023 Hypercars’ album.

Each Le Mans Hypercar wears an accurate livery -created in collaboration with brickstickershop – and is presented flawlessly, with building instructions available too. Join the 2023 race courtesy of SFH via the third link in the text above, plus you can check out the top-tier Le Mans cars from decades past via the second.

Apollo 10

1 Reply

May 18th 1969, and the tenth Apollo mission departed the Kennedy Space Centre to begin its eight day mission. Only the fourth U.S human spaceflight and the second to orbit the moon, the Apollo 10 mission was a rehearsal for the first moon landing that was to come just two months later, when – on July 20th 1969 – mankind’s relationship with our lunar satellite changed forever.

Cue a tenuous link to today’s car, the Apollo Intensa Emozione. No, us neither, but the Intensa Emozione (or ‘IE’ for short) is a carbon-fibre German supercar, “based on airflow and nature… marine animals in particular”, and powered by a naturally-aspirated Ferrari-derived V12.

Just ten Apollo ‘IE’s will be built, each costing almost $2.7 million (around 1% of the inflation-adjusted cost of the Apollo 10 mission), and having literally nothing at all in common with the moon landings beyond being very expensive. Still, it’s a considerably better name than another more well-known Ferrari V12-powered hypercar.

This exceptional brick-built replica of the Apollo ‘IE’ comes from previous bloggee 3D supercarBricks, who has captured the bodywork-inspired-by-marine-animals brilliantly. Opening gull-wing doors, 3D printed wheels, and superb presentation enhance the realism, and there’s more of the model to see 3D’s Apollo Flickr album. Blast-off to the moon via the link above.

100 Ans du Mans

Leave a reply

The world’s greatest motor race celebrates its century this weekend. Founded in 1923 on a public road loop around the village of Le Mans, a route that would later become today’s ‘Circuit de la Sarthe’, the 24 Heures du Mans remains the pinnacle of endurance racing.

Of course due to some German expansionist policies in the late 1930s, the 2023 event is not the one hundredth running of the race, rather the 91st, but nevertheless it’s going to be a special year, with both a notable increase in Hypercar competition and the final year of the GTE class before it’s replaced by the more widely adopted GT3 regulations.

Flickr’s SpaceMan Nathan is celebrating Le Mans’ centenary, and the final year of GTE, with this lovely recreation of the Circuit de la Sarthe pitlane, complete with five Speed Champions GTE AM cars. Accurate liveries and trackside sponsorship add to the ambience, and you can enter the pitlane at Le Mans’ centenary year via the link above to watch the GTE finale.

Galactic Thievery

1 Reply

If there’s one thing we pride ourselves on at The Lego Car Blog, it’s beating The Brothers Brick to publishing creations. OK, that and ‘Your Mom’ jokes. Two things*.

Cue much Elven shuffling and looking at the floor therefore, when we found these superb space-based Speed Champions racers at the aforementioned website fun-vacuum, instead of being brought to us by one of our smelly little workers.

Still, much as we hate losing a race with The Brothers Brick, we do rather like the idea of racing in space, particularly if the racers feature the repurposed decals and printed parts from LEGO’s excellent Speed Champions sets.

TLCB newcomer Eric TheSkeleton owns the hands behind them and there’s more to see of each glorious galactic racer at his photostream. Jump to the action via the link above, whilst we post something that’s not stolen from a vastly more competent Lego site…

*And Putin-has-a-tiny-penis jokes. Beating The Brothers Brick, Your Mom jokes, and mocking Putin. Three things.

Build-an-F40

Leave a reply

Ferrari may have built a surprisingly large number of F40s, but even with our big-time Lego Blogging Money, owning one is considerably out of reach. However this stunning Technic version is rather more attainable, and it features a working V8 engine, 5+R gearbox, independent suspension, opening clamshells, and pop-up headlights just like the real thing.

Eurobricks’ sebulba56 is the designer, and they’ve made building instructions available so you can create your own brick-built replica of Ferrari’s legendary 40th-birthday-present-to-itself too.

Full details can be found at the Eurobricks forum via the link above, where images of mechanical break-downs, a complete description, and a link to building instructions can all be found.

What Might Have Been

Leave a reply

The story of the 2022 Formula 1 season is one of what might have been. After years in the doldrums, Scuderia Ferrari finally had the fastest car on the grid, and not only that, they had one of the most talented driver pairings too. Ferrari duly won two of the first three races, with fastest lap at all three, and with only one podium place dropped. And then – courtesy of some inexplicable tactical decisions – they threw it all away.

Now longstanding readers of this crumbling ruin in the corner of the internet will know that we aren’t Scuderia Ferrari’s biggest fans, what with them being immoral scumbags and everything, but if they stopped us having to see Christian Horner’s smug face every week we’d have taken it. However, unfortunately for Ferrari’s drivers – and us – some of the worst decision making in modern Formula 1 history gifted Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a second consecutive World Championship, and Horner’s smugness gained its own gravity.

Still, Ferrari’s 2022 F1 car looked rather lovely, and probably was the fastest car of the season, if only the team weren’t run by muppets, and it looks just as stunning in brick form courtesy of Noah_L, who has added the F1-75 to his amazing catalogue of Scuderia Ferrari racers.

Noah’s astonishing attention to detail is brought to life by some truly masterful building techniques, with superbly replicated decals and impeccable presentation making his Scuderia Ferrari F1-75 one of the most realistic real-world cars of the year so far.

A beautiful gallery of imagery is available to view on Flickr, where links to Noah’s previous Scuderia Ferrari racers and building instructions for the F1-75 pictured here can also be found. Build your own 2022 title challenger and reenact Ferrari’s strategic incompetence (not pitting under the safety car, pitting two cars at once, pitting for the wrong tyres…) via the link above. Just don’t be surprised if Christian Horner appears out of nowhere looking smug.

Life Begins at Forty

Leave a reply

Or so people in their 40s like to say. For Ferrari however, it’s very probably true, as – despite their amazing pre-1980s back-catalogue – the Maranello marque’s all-time high water mark came in 1987 with its fortieth birthday present to itself, the astonishing F40.

Pioneering twin-turbochargers, a kevlar and carbon-fibre body, and semi-flat under-tray, the F40 was the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive Ferrari yet, and the last to be personally approved by Enzo Ferrari himself before his death in 1988.

All of which means F40s are now worth around $1.5million, even though they are not – at least in supercar terms – rare cars, with over 1,300 produced during the model’s five year production run.

Unfortunately the result of such iconic status is that even TLCB’s executive team can’t afford one, despite the immense riches that blogging about Lego brings, but no matter because today we have the next best thing; Lachlan Cameron’s brilliant Technic Ferrari F40 replica.

Utilising the latest parts from the official LEGO Technic 42143 Ferrari Dayton SP3 set, Lachlan has faithfully recreated the definitive Ferrari in brick form, complete with a v8 engine and 5-speed gearbox, working steering and suspension, opening clamshells and doors, a highly detailed interior and engine bay, and pop-up headlights.

Accurate decals, chromed pieces, and printed tyres maximise the realism, and there’s lots more to see of this incredible creation at Lachlan’s ‘Ferrari F40’ album on Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum.

Join Ferrari’s fortieth birthday celebrations via the links in the text above, plus you can find out Lachlan builds amazing models like this via his interview here at The Lego car Blog; click these words to read more.

Ferrari LaFerrari | Picture Special

Leave a reply

You might think Japan has the stupidest car names. The Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard, the Daihatsu Naked, the Mazda Bongo Friendee, and (most ironically) the Mitsubishi Carisma – to name a few – are all incredibly daft, but the most ludicrous car name of all is surely the Ferrari The Ferrari.

The Ferrari LaFerrari is stupid only in name though, as in all other respects the Ferrari Ferrari Ferrari is one of the greatest hypercars of the modern age.

The first production car to feature an F1 kinetic energy recovery system, the LaFerrariFerrari produced 950bhp from its combination of a 6.3 litre V12 and an electric motor, whilst – somewhat superfluously – improving fuel economy over past V12 Ferraris by around 40%.

This jaw-dropping Technic replica of the Ferrari FerrariLaFerrari comes from T Lego of Eurobricks, who has recreated the 2013 hybrid hypercar in astonishing detail.

An unbelievably accurate exterior, complete with opening butterfly doors, engine cover and  front trunk, hides a modular chassis equipped with a V12 engine hooked up to an 8-speed sequential paddle-shift gearbox, dynamic suspension with nose-lift connected to the working steering, a deployable spoiler and aero flaps, and bespoke 3D-printed wheels.

It’s an incredible Technic creation and one you can take a complete in-depth look at via the Eurobricks forum, where a wealth of incredible imagery and full build details can be found. Click the link above to check out T Lego’s amazing model of the car so good that Ferrari named it twice.

Speed Champions 2023 | Set Previews

2 Replies

It’s the final part of our 2023 Set Previews, and today it’s perhaps LEGO’s most successful and well-regarded range of recent times; the fantastic officially licensed Speed Champions theme.

LEGO’s decision to bring real-world cars to bedroom floors everywhere at pocket money prices was an inspired one, and the list of partner manufacturers is now at eighteen strong. Yup, that means there’s a brand new manufacturer joining the line-up for 2023 – read on to find out who!

…

76914 – Ferrari 812 Competizione

The 2023 Speed Champions range kicks off with this, the 76914 Ferrari 812 Competizione. For $25 / £20 you can own one the greatest Ferraris of recent times, constructed from 261 pieces including a mini-figure, a printed canopy, and a lot of stickers. Too many? Well to our eyes yes, but LEGO know what appeals to 9 year olds, and they’ll be on to a winner.

…

76915 – Pagani Utopia

Yes the eighteenth manufacturer to join the Speed Champions line-up is Pagani! Maker of wild AMG-powered carbon-fibre hypercars, the Utopia is the brand’s latest, with an 850bhp 6 litre twin-turbo V12 and an ultra-exclusive 99-unit production run, although we suspect there will be a few more owners of the car in brick-form. Expect 249 pieces, lots of stickers, a slightly lazily-printed canopy, and a $35 / £20 price.

…

76916 – Porsche 963

2023 will finally see the expansion of the prototype series at Le Mans, with a raft of manufacturers joining to challenge Toyota’s dominance. Two categories will race within the top-tier class; LMH (Toyota, Peugeot, Ferrari), in which full works-built prototypes can be built using entirely bespoke components, and LMDh (Cadillac, Acura, Alpine and Porsche), using spec chassis and hybrid systems. 76916 brings Porsche’s entry to the Speed Champions range, with 280 pieces, clever SNOT building techniques, and stickers on every surface.

…

76918 – McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM

2023’s final Speed Champions set is a double, featuring two cars from the McLaren range. OK, one really, as the 25-unit, V10-Judd-engined, track-only Solus GT that we hadn’t heard of exists only in Gran Turismo at the moment. But let’s be honest, you wouldn’t be buying 76918 for that…

The reason we all want 76918 is for the fantastic McLaren F1 LM, which looks absolutely magnificent in orange bricks. It doesn’t even need many stickers. 581 pieces, two mini-figures, and some genuinely tricky building techniques feature, making it one of the best Speed Champions cars to date. And there’s a Solus GT or something too.

…

That’s the brand new 2023 Speed Champions line-up; five new sets (including the previously-revealed 76917 ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ Nissan Skyline GT-R R-34), one new manufacturer, and six-hundred new stickers. We’ll be taking the 76918 McLaren F1, and consider it an expensive single model set, but with a bonus pack of white and black parts thrown in for free. Couldn’t LEGO have made it with two F1s instead?…

Life at the Top

3 Replies

For those lucky enough to be fantastically wealthy, they’ll probably be slightly more so by the time you’ve finished reading this post. That’s because to make money, all you need is… money.

Take the Ferrari Enzo, a $660,000 car when it was new twenty years ago, and now worth just over $3million. Even inflation-adjusted that’s still an increase of $2.1million. That rise equates to $8,750 a month over the last two decades – double the median wage in America, tax free, and without working a day.

With a bleak economic forecast ahead we can expect many will suffer hardship probably not seen since the 2008 crash, but the new (unelected) Government of the TLCB’s home nation (it’s complicated…) has just slashed tax for the wealthy. Because to make money all you need is money. We’d make a joke about trickle-down economics, but 99% of readers wouldn’t get it.

Thus we won’t be previewing LEGO’s newly revealed $600 set, because it seems in rather poor taste at the moment (plus it’s Star Wars), and instead we’ll use this rather excellent recreation of an early-’00s hypercar by Flickr’s 3D supercarBricks to moan about the growing poverty in the sixth largest economy on earth.

So keep your eyeballs on the ads on this page, click them if you’re interested, and we’ll give away what we can of the proceeds. It might be needed more than ever this winter.

The Most Expensive Car in the World…

Leave a reply

…can now be yours! The Ferrari 250 GTO is today worth approximately $70 million. That’s the equivalent to the entire annual value of smallest economy in the world (Tuvalu), 3,500 new Toyota Corollas, 1/3 of a Zlatan Ibrahimovic, or 1/35th of an Elon Musk. Which puts it slightly out of reach even for us here at The Lego Car Blog.

Flickr’s barneius can help though, having built this most excellent 314-piece Speed Champions recreation of the world’s most valuable car, and made building instructions available too, so you can create it for yourself. Click the link above to pretend you’ve got more money than Tuvalu.

Tinder Lies

Leave a reply

This is a Dino 246, the late-’60s to mid-’70s Ferrari-that-wasn’t-a-Ferrari.

The Dino 206 and 246 compared favourably with the Porsche 911 and other sports cars of the time, but the 2.0 and 2.4 litre V6 Fiat engines fitted were considered too entry-level for the main Ferrari brand, despite Ferrari upping the horsepower figure by 20bhp.

By ‘upping the horsepower figure’ we do mean that literally; Ferrari’s number may have been 20bhp higher than Fiat’s, but the engine was identical. It’s the ’60s motoring equivalent of adding a few inches to your height on Tinder…

Despite the outright lies we do rather like the Dino, and time has been kind to it, with a quick search revealing the Dinos for sale today are all listed as ‘Ferraris’. And they probably have an extra 20bhp in the performance figures too.

This lovely Speed Champions recreation of the not-quite-a-Ferrari comes from Flickr’s Thomas Gion, who has captured the Dino 246 GT beautifully. There’s more to see at Thomas’ ‘1969 “Ferrari” Dino 246 GT’ album‘ on Flickr – take a look via the link above whilst this TLCB Writer makes a minor amendment his Tinder profile.

Carbon Clam

Leave a reply

The Ferrari F40 was a technical marvel when it was revealed in 1987. The last car personally approved by Enzo Ferrari, the F40 deployed twin-turbo-chargers to produce around 500bhp from its relatively small 2.9 litre V8, featured electronically adjustable suspension, and became the first series-production car in the world to be built from composite materials; carbon fibre and kevlar.

Often overlooked, it’s the F40’s composite bodywork that is its most ground-breaking feature, and Darren Thew has recreated the complex opening front and rear carbon fibre clamshells brilliantly in Technic form.

Working steering, suspension, pop-up headlights, and a realistic V8 engine live underneath the huge opening pieces, and there’s more to see of Darren’s excellent Technic Ferrari F40 on Flickr.

Click the link above to take a look inside the clam.