Tag Archives: Le Mans

Le Mans ’95

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Mid-’90s endurance racing was – in this writer’s opinion – the peak of Le Mans cool. Purpose-built racers competed on equal terms wildly fast supercars, based on those that could actually be bought by the public (in some years they even had to have space for luggage in the regulations!). This created both spectacular on-track battles and some astonishing road cars, with this being one of them; the Le Mans winning 1995 McLaren F1 GTR.

Designed by Gordon Murray and powered by a BMW M-Power V12, the McLaren F1 was the fastest production car in the world, and remains the fastest naturally-aspirated production car to this day. Twenty-eight ‘GTR’-spec F1s were produced for racing, with the model winning not just Le Mans, but becoming the first non-domestic car to win the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship.

This is the Le Mans winning car, which beat rivals from Ferrari, Corvette, Honda, and Porsche, plus a range of purpose-built open-cockpit racers, and took third, fourth and fifth places too. It comes from previous bloggee 3D supercarBricks, who has captured the F1 GTR and its ’95 Le Mans livery beautifully in brick form.

Custom wheels and opening doors, front trunk and engine cover feature, and there’s much more to see at 3D’s photostream. Click the link above to travel as fast as it was possible to go in car in 1995.

Technic 42156 Peugeot 9X8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar | Set Preview

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LEGO’s extensive catalogue of officially-licensed vehicle sets has brought many amazing real-world racers to bedroom floors, including the 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Car, 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE AF Corse, and the 42096 Porsche 911 RSR.

Today we can reveal that LEGO are not only bringing another real-world racer to the Technic range, but a whole new manufacturer too! This is the brand new 1:10 scale, 1,775-piece 42156 Peugeot 9X8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar.

Yes, we finally have a top-tier Le Mans Hypercar in brick form, although with LEGO also having licenses with rival teams Toyota, Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, and Ferrari, hopefully we could see the whole Le Mans grid in time.

The Peugeot 9X8 entered the championship this year, looking to challenge the dominance of Toyota at the front of the field, and combines a V6 engine with a Hybrid KER system and four-wheel drive.

The new LEGO 42156 set aims to recreate the functions of the real Peugeot 9X8, with working steering and suspension, a V6 piston engine, 7-speed transmission, and – mysteriously – replicating ‘the low emission hybrid powertrain system’, although we’re not sure what that means.

The set also features glow-in-the-dark headlights and a myriad of authentic decals, and is expected to cost around £170 / $200 when it reaches stores in time for the 2023 24 Heures du Mans race this summer, in which Peugeot Sport might get a little extra support from LEGO fans…

Greater Endurance

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After spending some time with your Mom over Christmas, she said we needed ‘more endurance’. Well today’s post will rectify that (we assume this is what she meant), with no less than five glorious historic Group C / Endurance racers.

Each is the work of TLCB debutant SFH_Bricks, who has recreated an array of classic Le Mans racer winners wonderfully in Speed Champions scale, with some of the best decals (courtesy of Brickstickershop) that we’ve ever seen.

From the iconic Rothmans Porsche 956 (top), the wild V12-powered Jaguar XJR-9 LM, the Sauber C9 (above) that was so fast along the Mulsanne Straight that chicanes were added the following year, the Mazda 787B (below) – still the only car to win Le Mans without using a reciprocating engine, to the Peugeot 905 Evo (bottom) that took victory in ’92, each is a near perfect Speed Champions replica of its amazing real world counterpart.

Each model is presented beautifully and all are available to view at SFH’s ‘Le Mans Collection Series’ album on Flickr, where you can also find links to building instructions at the Rebrickable platform. Click the link above for even more endurance.

Advantage

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We’re rounding out 2022 with exactly the sort of car that this crumbling ruin in the corner of the internet was created for; the mighty Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.

Built by previous bloggee Levihathan, this eye-catching Technic recreation of Aston Martin’s 2010s-2020s endurance racer captures the real deal brilliantly, with the aesthetics further enhanced by bespoke decals that add to the race-ready realism.

Inside, Levihathan’s V12 Vantage is just as impressive, with a working V12 piston engine underneath the opening hood, functioning steering and suspension, a detailed race interior, and a paddle-shift gearbox.

There’s much more of the build to see at Levihathan’s ‘Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3’ album, and you can make the jump to all the imagery via the link in the text above.

Don’t Mention the War

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This bizarre looking vehicle is a Porsche 356 Carrera GTL Abarth, a lightweight racing car from 1960 resulting from a rare collaboration between Germany and Italy.

Previous partnerships between the two European powers were – thankfully for mankind – disastrous failures, but the Porsche 356 Carrera GTL Abarth was… OK, not great either.

It overheated, the steering couldn’t turn enough, and there were a few ‘differences of opinion’ between Porsche and Abarth when it came to acceptable build quality.

However unlike their 1940s effort, the two nations persevered and re-engineered the 356 Carrera GTL to the point where it became a rather excellent racing car, successfully competing across Europe and taking three consecutive class wins at Le Mans.

This neat Model Team recreation of the German-Italian racer comes from Tim Inman, who has managed to replicate the 356 Carrera GTL’s decidedly odd bodywork in brick form.

Opening doors and a lifting engine cover reveal a detailed interior and rear-mounted engine respectively, and there’s more to see of Tim’s Porsche 356 Carrera GTL Abarth at his photostream.

Click the link above to join the Axis Powers’ 1960 campaign, which was a lot better than their 1940 effort…

Alpine Pass

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History is littered with vehicle manufacturers who sold about five cars a year, but yet somehow thought they could afford a top-tier racing team. Caterham, Marussia, Spyker, TVR and others have all tried – and without exception failed – to turn a tiny (and sometimes non-existent) sports car business into a successful racing team.

Re-born Alpine are the latest company to have a go. However whilst they also only sell about five cars a year, they’re owned by Renault, whose pockets and racing experience are rather deeper than Marussia’s…

Cue the Renault F1 team becoming Alpine in 2021, and – perhaps less encouragingly – this; the Alpine A480 Le Mans Hypercar entrant. Which wasn’t a Hypercar at all, rather a ‘grandfathered’ LMP1 Rebellion/Oreca 07 with a new paint-job.

Still, it brought a much-needed competitor to the top tier of endurance racing, which is currently rather short of entries, and gave the French fans something to support.

This neat brick-built version of the ‘Alpine’ A480 comes from Lasse Deleuran (aka gtahelper), who’s added it to his extensive line-up of Le Mans cars from the last few years.

There’s more of the model to see on Brickshelf via the link above, and we’ll be looking forward to Lasse’s Lego versions of the new Peugeot and Ferrari Le Mans Hypercars which are due to join the field soon. We just hope they do a bit more than give an old Rebellion/Oreca 07 a new paint job…

Scuderia Glickenhaus

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Every Lego car builder has probably dreamed of running their own supercar company. So too has every multi-millionaire, with a new one popping up on an almost weekly basis claiming that they’re actually going to do it, their car has two thousand horsepower and will do 400mph, before quietly disappearing never to be heard from again.

Except Cameron Glickenhaus actually did it. Starting by creating unique Ferraris for his own personal use through their bespoke programme, Glickenhaus has since gone the whole hog and built his own car. From scratch. And now he’s going racing.

This is his new racing car, the Glickenhaus 007 LMH, which is already fighting Toyota in the top-tier World Endurance Championship, and it’ll go wheel-to-wheel with Porsche, Ferrari, Peugeot and others as the Hypercar class expands next year.

This excellent Speed Champions recreation of the unlikely hypercar was suggested by a reader, and comes from ReddishBlueMOCs. Instructions are available and there are more images to view via Bricksafe at the link above.

LEGO Technic 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE AF CORSE #51 | Set Preview

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It’s that time of year again, when the guard dogs at The LEGO Company’s HQ get the chance of an early Christmas treat in the form of Elf-based snacks. Fortunately our Elves are sneaky creatures with a zest for life, and thus some do make it back here to TLCB Towers with only a few bite marks. And the new LEGO Technic sets of course – otherwise they get catapulted back over the premier wall for another one-on-one with a German Shepherd.

No re-catapulting was required for today’s survivor though, as it returned with this; the brand new for 2021 LEGO Technic 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE AF Corse #51 set. Constructed from nearly 1,700 pieces 42125 is a hefty model, with all of the Technic Supercar perquisites you’d expect, including working steering, a V8 piston engine, and all-wheel independent suspension.

It’s also the first Technic set to replicate not just a real-world car, but a real-world racing version of a real-world car, with the #51 AF Corse 488 competing in the GTE World Endurance Championship including Le Mans, where it finished first in class in 2019 and second in 2020.

A wealth of stickers accurately recreate the AF Corse #51 livery (and the headlights…), and whilst the car does include a few System pieces for enhanced detail it does look a little more Technic-y than some other recent sets. Whether that’s a good thing or not will depend very much on your thoughts on what a Technic set should be.

Expect the new 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE AF CORSE set to cost around $170/£170 when it reaches stores in 2021, sitting at the top of the new LEGO Technic line-up and returning Ferrari (LEGO’s longest standing automotive partner) to the Technic range.

Does 42125 pave the way for the other Le Mans GTE racing cars to become official LEGO sets? With every recent GTE manufacturer (Porsche, Aston Martin, Ford, BMW, and Chevrolet) already in partnership with LEGO, we sure hope so!

Le Mans 2018

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This spectacular array of racing cars is the entire Le Mans 2018 GTE Pro grid, just one of the four categories that compete side-by-side at the world’s greatest motor race.

Built over two years by Lasse Deleuran, all teams and driver combinations from the GTE Pro class of 2018 are present, with Ferrari, BMW, Aston Martin, Chevrolet, Ford, and the race-winning Porsche squad recreated brilliantly in Miniland scale, many of which have featured here individually over the last two years.

Instructions for every single GTE Pro car are available for free, and you can see more of each racer and find the link to recreate your very own Le Mans 2018 GTE Pro grid via Lasse’s photostream by clicking here.

Alright M8

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How every text received and sent by this TLCB Writer began back in the 2000s. What happened to text-speak? Anyway, this M8 isn’t shorthand, being BMW’s Le Mans GTE racing car from the 2018 24 Hour race. Previous bloggee Lasse Deleuran is building the entire grid of Le Mans racers and there’s more to see of this superb Miniland-scale recreation of BMW’s GTE endurance racer on both Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum, where free building instructions are also available. Click the links to take a look, and where you can LOL, OMG, YOLO, and all the rest.

Limey

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We’re not really sure why the British are named after fruits. Australians call them ‘Poms’ (short for pomegranate) whilst in the U.S. they’re ‘Limy’. Whatever the reason (probably something to do with boats and avoiding scurvy), it’s a good fit for today’s post, which is both British and very lime indeed.

These two searingly-coloured creations are Aston Martin Vantage AMR GTE racers, which competed in the GTE Pro category at Le Mans 2018, and made a rather wonderful noise to boot.

Previous bloggee Lasse Deluran has recreated the #95 and #97 cars beautifully in Minland scale, replicating their very lime liveries superbly too.

There’s more to see of Lasse’s Aston Martin Vantage AMR racers at both Flickr and the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find a link to building instructions should you wish to recreate these for yourself. You may need to buy some lime coloured bricks though…

Renault Reflection

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This beautiful racing car is a Renault Alpine A442, built by Renault-owned Alpine in the mid-1970s and powered by a tiny Renault 2 litre turbocharged V6 with one aim; win Le Mans. First entered in 1976 the team won on their third attempt in ’78, an all-French victory at the country’s most prestigious racing event.

This incredible replica of the race-winning Alpine comes from Jerac of Flickr, who has recently re-photographed his model on a new glass background creating the brilliant mirror presentation you see in the images here. Accurate decals complete the realism and you can see more of Jerac’s astonishing build at his photostream.

Jerac’s phenomenal presentation is aided by his superb glass background, but you don’t have to use one to showcase your creations beautifully. Check out some hints on how to best present your models with just natural light and a sheet of card by clicking here.

Build-a-Ferrari 488

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The worldwide douchebag that is Coronavirus has so far cancelled the first half of the Formula 1 season, the Isle of Man TT, and postponed the Le Mans 24 Hours. But fear not, because you can recreate the world’s greatest race at home thanks to Lasse Delueran and his superb replica of the Ferrari 488 EVO GTE that competed in the 2018 event. Beautifully accurate (and more than a little complicated), Lasse has released building instructions for his model, plus he’s built a host of other Le Mans racers too, so you can build your very own starting grid. Head to Lasse’s photostream via the first link in the text above to see more of the 488 and to find a link to building instructions, and you can check out his other creations via the second.

Lo lo lo lo Lola

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A song about gender fluidity way ahead of its time, and also a seriously cool British race engineering firm that built pretty much everything from the 1960s all the way up to 2012, and whose remnants now form much of the Haas Formula 1 team. This was one of their later creations, the Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 LMP1 endurance racer from 2008.

This spectacular Technic recreation of the mad Le Mans prototype comes from Leviathan / Nico Lego of Flickr, and it’s a properly brilliant Technic Supercar. With a working V12 engine, double clutch gearbox, in-board pushrod suspension, working steering, and superb swooping bodywork it’s a model that’s well worth a closer look. Around thirty high-quality images are available to view at Leviathan’s Aston Martin Lola LMP1 Flickr album – click the link above to make the jump.

Petite Porsche

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This is a Porsche 917K, one of the most successful endurance racing car designs of all time, and it’s been recreated to near perfection in miniature by Flickr’s K MP. Wearing the 1970 Le Mans winning livery K MP’s 917 captures the real car brilliantly and there’s more to see at his photostream via the link above.