Tag Archives: Ferrari

Acceptable in the ’80s

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And the 2020s it seems, as the once fairly unfashionable Ferrari Testarossa is now a bonafide millionaires’ toy, worth much much more than the entire contents TLCB office car park.

This one comes from Technic-building legend Lachlan Cameron (aka LoxLego), whose Technic recreation of the ’80s supercar includes a full remote control drivetrain, LED lights, custom (and really rather accurate) wheels, working suspension, a flat-12 engine, pop-up headlights, and opening doors, front trunk and engine cover.

There’s much more of the build to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum and on Flickr, plus you can read Lachlan’s interview here at TLCB in the Master MOCers series by clicking here.

*Today’s title song.

Life Begins at Forty

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Or so say people over the age of forty. For Ferrari, with whom we have a love/hate relationship here at TLCB Towers, Enzo decided to celebrate his brand’s big 4-0 with a spectacular present to itself; a carbon-fibre, twin-turbocharged racing car for the road.

This was back in 1987 too, so the F40 was nothing short of a sensation. 35 years later and Ferrari’s big launch is an SUV…

Still, we suppose it’s not Ferrari’s fault that the best selling Lamborghini (by miles) is an SUV, the best selling Bentley (by miles) is an SUV, and the best selling Porsche (by miles) is an SUV, but the future of cars is looking bleaker by the day.

Which is probably why classic cars like the F40 are worth astronomical sums these days, as people rail against the SUVness of everything new.

Flickr’s LN TEKNIK is the builder giving us license to reminisce about ‘how things were better in the olden days’, with this gorgeous 1:10 scale Technic Ferrari F40.

Equipped with the full suite of Technic Supercar functions, LN’s recreation of the definitive Ferrari includes working steering, suspension, gearbox and engine, plus pop-up headlights, opening doors, and front and rear clam-shells. And some slightly dodgy looking non-LEGO wheels.

Which means in this post we’ve moaned about SUVs, non-standard wheels, and declared that things aren’t as good as they used to be. And the TLCB is only 10 – imagine how grumpy we’ll be in 30 years! Still, life begins then…

Ferrari at Forty

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The definitive 1980s supercar, the Ferrari F40 has become – like most old vehicles – ludicrously expensive. Of course it was ludicrously expensive when new too, but fortunately we have a thoroughly more attainable version of Ferrari’s 40th birthday present to itself here today.

Built by previous bloggee paave, this excellent Technic F40 includes plenty of features found on the real car, including independent suspension, a working V8 engine, and pop-up headlights, plus Power Functions remote control drive and steering.

Modular construction and opening doors, front clamshell and rear engine cover allow all of the above to be easily accessed, and paave has produced building instructions so that you can create your very own remote control Technic Ferrari F40 at home.

There’s more to see at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe, and you can take a look and find the link to recreate paave’s F40 for yourself by clicking the hyperlinked words above.

Elven Design

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If we were to ask TLCB Elves to design a car (and if we could understand what they’re saying), it would probably sound something like this; “A hot rod! And it’s red! And it’s got six wheels!! And a Ferrari engine! And rocket launchers!!”

Meeting all of the above (apart from the rocket launchers), is Tony Bovkoon, who has tapped into his inner-Elf to create this siding-doored ‘Wagon Hot Rod’, complete with six wheels and a Ferrari engine.

Join the Elves over on Flickr via the link above.

The Other Ferrari

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This is not a Ferrari.

The only legitimate son of Enzo, Alfredo “Dino” Ferrari was an engineer at his father’s company until he died in 1956, aged just 24, from muscular dystrophy.

Until his death, Dino had been working on a new 1.5 litre DOHC V6 engine with Vittorio Jano, who had joined Ferrari from Lancia.

Encouraged by Dino, Jano developed the new V6 engine, and upon Dino’s death Enzo Ferrari decided to create a new marque named after his son to take the engine racing.

The ’Dino’ F2 team raced the following year, with the engine subsequently developed for road cars which bore the ‘Dino’ name, including the Dino 246 by Flickr’s Jonathan Elliott pictured here, plus the Lancia Stratos and Fiat Dino Coupe and Spider.

Sadly Dino never saw the engine he pushed for race, and Jano never saw his engine fitted to a Ferrari. He lost his own son as Enzo had, and a year later in 1965 he took his own life.

Enzo finally brought Dino and Jano’s engine in-house for use in Ferrari-branded road cars in 1976, discontinuing the ‘Dino’ marque.

After twenty years, Enzo had allowed his son’s engine home.

The Speediest Champion

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Is there a car more perfect for LEGO’s new 8-wide Speed Champions range than the Ferrari F40? The most iconic Ferrari ever made has appeared in Creator form, but not yet as an 8-wide set. We’re sure it will at some point, and until then Jonathan Elliott has built one so wonderful we doubt it’ll be beaten. Head to Jonathan’s photostream via the link above to look at the best small-scale Ferrari F40 we’ve seen yet.

My Other Car is a Ferrari

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Today’s title is the bumper sticker equivalent of a ‘You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps!’ mug. In this case it fits though, as this ace Technic Meyers Manx beach buggy is built only out of the parts from the LEGO Technic 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE set.

Previous bloggee paave is the builder, whose 42125 B-Model includes working steering, all-wheel suspension, opening front trunk and engine cover, and a flat-4 engine. Building instructions are available and there’s more to see at Bricksafe and the Eurobricks forum.

Ferrari F50 GT | Picture Special

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This is the Ferrari F50 GT, a GT1 racer designed to compete in the Global GT Series of the mid-’90s against supercars such the McLaren F1 GTR, Jaguar XJ220 and Porsche 911 GT1.

However, Ferrari being Ferrari, they were unhappy that homologation specials like the 911 GT1 were allowed to race, and so threw their hands in the air, shouted something Italian, and stormed off to continue monopolising Formula 1’s TV revenue.

Thus only three F50 GTs were built, none of which raced, and these days they’re probably worth a gagillion of any currency you care to pick. Fortunately this one is rather more attainable, being a (stunning) 1:10 scale Technic ‘Supercar’ replica.

Created by Jeroen Ottens, this beautifully presented build features all of the Technic Supercar requirements, including all-wheel suspension, functioning steering, a working V12 engine and four-speed sequential gearbox, plus opening doors and front and rear clamshells.

It’s a jaw-dropping model and there’s more to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks, where you can also find a link to building instructions so you can create Jeroen’s F50 GT for yourself. Just ensure you refuse to race it against a Porsche and shout a lot in Italian about things not being fair for the authentic Ferrari experience.

Stradale

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Lego Technic Ferrari SF90 Stradale

Most plug-in hybrids are a tax-dodging con. Including this one.

The Ferrari SF90 Stradale’s 8kw/h battery gives an an electric range of… 16 miles. So with the heater and the radio on, that’ll be less than 10. Probably a lot less.

So an EV it isn’t, but the three electric motors with which the Stradale is equipped do boost power from 780bhp to 1,000bhp, and that is a very good thing indeed. They also mean that Ferrari can keep making supercars even when new car electrification becomes mandatory, which – in the case of TLCB’s home nation – isn’t far away at all.

Until then tax dodges like the SF90 allow V8’s to keep rumbling for a little while longer, and there’s more to see of this stellar Technic Supercar recreation of the Stradale courtesy of Lukas Rs (aka F1Moc) on Flickr.

Click the link above to visit Lukas’ ‘Ferrari SF90 Stradale’ album. Just make sure you turn the heater and radio off.

Black Horse

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There are two wonderful exceptions, but most non-red Ferraris are owned by horrible ‘influencer’ types, whose personalities are so vacuous the most interesting thing about them is the wrap on their car. Which usually looks ghastly.

Not so here though, as K MP‘s lightly modified Ferrari 458 Italia looks mega in black and gold, wearing a brick-built Vorsteiner bodykit which in real life looks pretty decent too.

Suggested by a reader there’s more to see of K MP’s Speed Champions Vortsteiner 458 on Flickr via the link, and if we’ve offended any influencer types reading this who’ve wrapped their car, sorry – but it probably does look ghastly.

Moustache P.I.

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This TLCB Writer is too young to know anything about Magnum P.I, but it seems to have been mostly about a moustache galavanting around Hawaii in a Ferrari 308. And was therefore probably excellent. Also excellent is this; Laszlo Torma’s Speed Champions Ferrari 308, complete with a pair of mini-figures and an all-important moustache. Building instructions are available and there’s more to see here.

Forbidden Flatness

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Porsche are perhaps the best known manufacturer to use flat engines, despite the fact that these days most of their cars are powered by Volkswagen Group Vs or Inlines. However Ferrari too once powered their cars by boxer engines, the first of which was this; the Berlinetta Boxer.

Ferrari’s first mid-engined twelve-cylinder road car, just over two-thousand Berlinetta Boxers were produced between 1973 and ’84 before the Testarossa picked up the flat-twelve mantle, although none were officially imported into the Unites States as Enzo Ferrari thought the flat-twelve was too much for U.S. 55mph speed limits and increasing emissions regulations.

This excellent Technic recreation of the ‘BB’ comes from previous bloggee and TLCB Competition Winner  James Tillson, whose model includes working suspension, steering, pop-up headlights, plus opening doors and rear clamshell, under which is – of course – a functioning 12-cylinder piston engine.

There’s much more of James’ superb Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer to see at his photostream, including a photo of the flat-twelve engine. Click the link above to take a closer look. Even if you’re in the U.S.

Two Horse Race

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There was something of a kerfuffle in TLCB Towers today. In a not uncommon event, two TLCB Elves had returned with a model each – in this case a pair of Speed Champions classic Ferraris – and immediately fought over whose was best. For newcomers to this corner of the internet, ‘fought’ in the case of the Elves usually means extreme physical violence.

Fortunately for the Elven duo both of their finds were blogworthy and thus each received a meal token, so the violence – as is so often the way – wasn’t really necessary. Jonathan Elliott‘s wonderful Ferrari GTB/4 (above) and barneius‘ magnificent Ferrari 288 GTO (below) can be found on Flickr. Click the links above to pick your favourite. Just don’t tell the Elves which one it is.

Circuit of Speed Champions | Picture Special

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We’ve all dreamed of building our own racing circuit from LEGO bricks, with tyre barriers, grandstands, food stands, a pit lane, maybe even a Dunlop bridge…

Well SpaceMan Nathan has actually gone and done it, taking fourteen official LEGO Speed Champions sets and creating this wonderful race track diorama, complete with of all the above and more!

Measuring 144 by 112 studs, Nathan’s Circuit of Speed Champions includes everything a race track should, with a crowd of cheering race fans present to watch to the on-track battle.

There’s loads more to see of Nathan’s beautifully presented circuit diorama at his photostream on Flickr – join the action trackside via the link above!

368-F40

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LEGO’s new Speed Champions canopy has popped up all over the place since its release on the the 75890 Ferrari F8 set. It looks great in many applications, and this superb Ferrari F40 continues that trend. Builder barneius has used 368 pieces to create his Speed Champions F40 making his design an easy one to recreate at home. Instructions are available so you can do just that and you can find out more via the link!