Tag Archives: Monaco

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.

It’s 106 miles to Chicago…

Leave a reply

…we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.

Delightfully over-the-top, loud, and perhaps lacking some substance, the 1974 Dodge Monaco ‘Bluesmobile’ and the 1980 musical comedy ‘The Blues Brothers’ in which it starred are the perfect mirror of one another.

This glorious Speed Champions version of the ‘Bluesmobile’ captures the film car beautifully, coming from TLCB regular Jonathan Elliott who has based his superbly-presented model on brickhead_07’s free building instructions available at Rebrickable. 

There’s more of the model to see at Jonathan’s photostream via the first link, the building instructions on which it is based can be found via the second, and you can watch every car crash from ‘The Blues Brothers’ by clicking here. The movie set a world record for the most…

Rallye Monte Carlo

1 Reply

Not only does Monaco hold the world’s most famous Formula 1 race (although these days often the world’s most boring too), it’s also the location for probably the world’s most famous rally, the Rallye Monte Carlo.

Held since 1911, when cars would set off from a variety of places across Europe to meet in Monaco, where they would be judged not just on speed but on ‘elegance’ and ‘passenger comfort’, the modern iteration of the race takes cars through the French Riviera and a variety of conditions, including treacherous snow-covered passes, in a series of timed stages.

In mid-’60s this meant one car became a giant killer, the humble Mini Cooper S. Mighty in the snow, the Mini won the event four times* back to back from 1964 to 1967, defeating cars with four times the power.

Taking the Mini from the 75894 Speed Champions set previewed here earlier in the year, Flickr’s Simon Pickard has modified it to Monte Carlo Rally specification and then created one of the most brilliantly life-like roads we’ve ever seen built from LEGO. Ingeniously placed plates create a glorious curve of ice, which a Mini Cooper S is pictured sliding around beautifully.

There’s more to see of Simon’s spectacular scene at his photostream, including an aerial shot showing the complete layout. Click the link above to visit the South of France in 1965.

*This really annoyed the French who, in 1966, disqualified any car that wasn’t a Citroen. Seriously, look it up! Thus we’re still giving the victory to the Mini, which actually won. And came second. And third.

Monaco 1929

Leave a reply

Lego Monaco 1929

Monaco might be thoroughly unsuited to modern Formula 1 cars, with F1 bosses only keeping today’s slow procession on the calendar for nostalgia, but there was a time when the winding street circuit was the greatest place to race on earth.

Flickr’s Pixeljunkie takes us right back to the very first Grand Prix race held in the principality with this wonderful scene depicting the 1929 event. Navigating the Station Hairpin (as it was then known) are several superb vintage racing cars, including Pixel’s previously featured Bugatti Type 37A, whilst a series of bystanders take a very 1920s approach to Health & Safety. Join the race at Pixeljunkie’s photostream.

Hairpin

Leave a reply

Things have become a bit slack at TLCB towers recently. The Elf-Wrangler-in-Chief is away and we must admit to having been rather lenient with the Elves. We’ve left top off the Smarties jar on more than one occasion. We’ve enjoyed the abundance of Lego aeroplanes that they’ve brought us, though the little monsters must realise that these aren’t cars! This morning, two of the Elves staggered in looking a bit soggy. They’d swum home from Amsterdam carrying Ralph Savelsberg’s EA-1F Skyraider and tried to tempt us with it.

Fortunately, we’d read The Brothers Brick and spotted this beautiful scene by Simon Pickard on Flickr. Simon’s model of this famous part of a famous F1 circuit must have involved a great deal of patience. He has wedged hundreds of tiles, edge-on, to create a smooth and flowing tarmac curve. Topped off with two cars from different ages of racing and a nice crane, this model is well worth a further look.

‘It’s Got a Cop Motor…’

2 Replies

Lego Dodge Monaco Blues Brothers

It’s been a while since we featured one of your suggestions; this one was discovered by one of our readers on the Lego Ideas creation sharing platform. It’s a recreation of the 1976 Dodge Monaco from the 1980 film ‘Blues Brothers’ by newcomer eini1971, and you can see more at the link.

Cum On Feel the Noize

3 Replies

Lego Bluemobile Dodge Monaco

The Lego Car Blog Elves are – despite their small size – quite fantastically noisy creatures. Thus they were delighted to find two noisy creations today, and then almost immediately enraged to find that LEGO bricks produce no noise at all, even when they’re shaped as if they do.

The first of their finds (above) comes from Flickr’s Nik J Dort, who has recreated the iconic ex-police Dodge Monaco complete with roof-speaker from the 1980 film ‘Blues Brothers’, which until recently held the record for the highest number of vehicles destroyed in a movie. Watching this destruction has placated the Elves somewhat.

Their second find comes from a builder suggested to us by a reader, LEGO Will, but sadly from a movie the Elves are unable to watch yet as they are still banned from the local cinema. Will’s mini-figure scale recreation of the ‘Doof Wagon’ from the ridiculous (and brilliant) 2015 film ‘Mad Max – Fury Road’ can be found on Flickr too – click the link above for all the pictures.

Lego Mad Max Fury Road

Dodgy Namesake

1 Reply

Lego Dodge Royal Monaco

One of the most inappropriately named cars ever made, the Dodge Royal Monaco was humungous lumbering barge from America’s automotive dustbin. It’s safe to assume the Dodge was probably not endorsed by the monarch of the tiny French-Mediterranian principality from which it derived its name. Curiously though, in Lego form the Monaco looks brilliant. At least when someone as talented as Flickr’s Dohoon Kim is the builder. See more at the link.

Bluesmobile

4 Replies

Lego Bluemobile Dodge MonacoThe 1974 Dodge Monaco from the 1980 film Blues Brothers; “It’s got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It’s got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks”… and it’s on Flickr courtesy of Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist.