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LEGO Technic 42205 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray | Set Preview

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It’s that time of year again, when a crack team of TLCB Elves is sent to sneak around The LEGO Company’s headquarters to find (and steal) the top secret imagery of next year’s Technic line-up.

Of course as with every year, we don’t publish said images here until they’re in the public domain, because we have integrity. But as this set has just been accidentally revealed by the Mexican arm of a famous online retailer, it matters not if we publish the images we’ve assuredly been sitting on for ages and definitely didn’t find leaked on the internet. So here it is, the brand new Technic 42205 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray!

Wait? Didn’t LEGO already do one of these? Well yes, back in 2019, with the last of the front-engined Corvettes, but this is the new mid-engined Corvette. The 42205 set also looks, to our eyes at least, rather more cohesive than the 2019 iteration, but as well it might, with around 25% more parts (at 732), and an expected $50 price tag.

It also features a tie-up with the ‘Asphalt Legends Unite’ video-game for some reason, and includes working steering, a V8 engine, opening doors, and stickers-for-everything.

On its own, the Technic 42205 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray looks nice enough. But perhaps we’ve been spoilt with LEGO’s explosion of officially-licensed real-world replicas because, well… the first mid-engined Corvette to become a LEGO set could perhaps have been a bit more interesting than a $50 Technic set with more stickers than working features.

However if you are excited by LEGO’s latest Corvette set you can get your hands on it when it lands in March of 2025, before which we’ll reveal of the rest of the brand new Technic line-up right here at The Lego Car Blog. Unless Amazon Mexico unwittingly leak it first…

LEGO Formula 1 2025 | Set Previews

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LEGO have long dabbled in officially-licensed Formula 1 sets. Tie ups with Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and others in recent years have strengthened the collaboration, but today we have an announcement on a whole different scale. Partnering with Formula 1 itself, as well as all ten individual teams within it, we can reveal no fewer than thirty-one new Formula 1 licensed sets, spanning Duplo, City, Speed Champions, Technic, Icons, and even pocket-money Collectables (as per the Minifigure Series). This is the brand new LEGO Formula 1 2025 line-up, and it’s massive!

LEGO Technic 42207 | Ferrari SF-24 F1 Racing Car

We kick off the new 2025 Formula 1 line-up with the largest set in the range, the Technic 42207 Ferrari SF-24 F1 Racing Car.

Constructed from over 1,300 pieces and aimed at ages 18+ (thereby making it acceptable for dads to buy one), 42207 recreates Ferrari’s occasionally-winning 2024 racing car with authentic livery decals, replica printed (but inaccurately equal-width) Pirelli tyres, working steering, all-wheel suspension, a V6 engine with a spinning MGU-H unit, functional rear-wing DRS, and a two-speed gearbox.

Despite being a six gears short of the real deal, the rest of the specs look pretty good, and you can get your hands on 42207 for the not inconsiderable sum of €229.99 / $229.99 / £199.99 when it races into stores in March 2025.

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LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell

From a car near-ish to the front of today’s Formula 1 grid to the one absolutely at the front of it some 32 years ago, this is the brand new LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell set.

Also aimed at ages 18+ because, you know, the whole dad thing, the new 10353 set brings one of the greatest moustaches in racing history to the LEGO Formula 1 line-up. Oh, and the utterly dominant Williams Racing FW14B.

Recreated from almost 800 pieces, 10353 brings the legendary Williams-Renault FW14B to life with working steering, a detailed (although static) replica of the V10 engine that powered it, authentic (and – hurrah! – staggered width) Goodyear slicks, plus some wonderfully accurate period decals. Except the tobacco ones of course.

It also includes a definitely-not-to-scale approximation of the man who drove it to the 1992 World Championship, which frankly feels like a missed opportunity. Imagine how good the brick-built moustache could be if Mansell was scaled appropriately.

Missed moustache maximisation aside, the LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell set looks to be a decent addition, joining the Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna set already on sale, and correcting that set’s equal-width tyre flaw. Expect 10353 to cost €79.99 / $79.99 / £69.99 when it arrives in March 2025, which seems like rather a lot. But then Mansell’s moustache probably needs license all of its own.

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LEGO Speed Champions 77242 Ferrari SF-24 F1 Race Car / 77243 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 Race Car / 77244 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS W15 F1 Race Car / 77245 Aston Martin Aramco F1 AMR24 Race Car / 77246 Cash App VCARB 01 F1 Race Car / 77247 KICK Sauber F1 Team C44 Race Car / 77248 BWT Alpine F1 Team A524 Race Car / 77249 Williams Racing FW46 F1 Race Car / 77250 MoneyGram Haas F1 Team VF-24 Race Car / 77251 McLaren MCL38 F1 Team Race Car

Lego Speed Champions Formula 1 2025

Yes, every single team on the 2025 Formula 1 grid will be available in LEGO Speed Champions form!

Averaging around 260 pieces, each 2025 Speed Champions Formula 1 Race Car set does a pretty good job of replicating its real world counterpart, with unique mini-figure drivers, accurate sponsorship liveries (recreated via a lot of stickers), and decent effort made to reflect the subtle nuances in design between the teams.

Each will cost around $27 / €27 / £21, with all aimed at ages 10+ and perfectly placed for the pocket-money demographic. Except – weirdly – the cars wearing Red Bull branding, which quietly state an age of 18+. If ever there was proof needed that energy drinks are bad for you…

All ten of the new Speed Champions Formula 1 sets look like they’ll be an enormous hit (we might even buy ourselves the 77245 Aston Martin Aramco F1 AMR24 Race Car, if just to recreate various acts of Lance Stroll stupidity in the office), and you’ll be able to get your hands on each of them from March of next year.

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And that’s not all! For LEGO fans under ten, a further twelve 29-piece Formula 1 collectible sets and six Formula 1 City sets, encompassing all ten teams, will launch in January 2025, plus for really young builders there’s even a Formula 1 Duplo set joining the line-up too.

It’s perhaps the post comprehensive licensing partnership LEGO have delivered yet, and with Formula 1 teams and the stupid sponsorship branding that accompanies them (Cash App VCARB being the current most egregious example) changing so regularly, there’ll be no shortage of new liveries and teams to keep the LEGO Formula 1 line-up perpetually fresh.

LEGO Icons 10335 The Endurance | Set Preview

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The LEGO Icons range has brought some spectacular real-world vehicles to the hands of LEGO fans. The Corvette, Countach, Camaro, Concorde, and many more besides have been recreated brilliantly in brick form to date, but we didn’t expect the next set in the Icons range to be a 1912 Norwegian three-masted schooner. And nor for it to be quite so wonderful. This is the LEGO Icons 10335 Endurance.

Now lying at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, the ‘Endurance’ carried Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven to the edge of Antarctica in 1915, where the ship became trapped in pack ice and was slowly crushed.

Neither Shackleton nor his crew were lost in the sinking, surviving an incredible feat of, well… endurance, to make it to Elephant Island in three of the ship’s small boats in April of 1916, before Shackleton braved the open ocean once again to reach South Georgia and raise a rescue party.

Recreating the ship at the heart of the amazing Antarctic survival story, the brand new 10335 set is constructed from over 3,000 pieces, includes ten sails and rigging, and an intricate multi-level deck with stairs, cabins, a steam engine, an operational rudder, and the Endurance’s four detachable lifeboats (three of which made that astonishing journey in 1916).

Costing £229.99 / €269.99/ $269.99, the new LEGO Icons 10335 The Endurance is certainly a set aimed at adult collectors rather than children or casual fans, but it just might be LEGO’s most beautifully executed replica yet. It reaches stores at the end of November 2024, some 108 years after the crew of the Endurance were finally rescued from a remote island in the Southern Ocean.

LEGO Technic Mercedes-Benz G 500 Professional Line | Set Preview

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The Lego Car Blog Towers is surrounded by Mercedes-Benz G-Wagens. And none of them look like this. This is the brand new 42177 Technic Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line!

Available from today, LEGO’s latest 18+ set brings one of the world’s most iconic, and douchiest, 4x4s to the Technic range.

Constructed from 2,891 pieces, 42177 is one of the largest officially-licensed car sets yet, and is packed with working functions. These include a six-cylinder engine, all-wheel suspension, all-wheel-drive with two working diff-locks, functioning steering, a D-N-R gearbox with high/low transfer, opening doors, tailgate and hood, new off-road tyres, and a host of off-roady accessories.

It also looks properly accurate, no doubt helped by the G-Class’s breeze-block proportions, with some subtle stickerage to enhance the realism.

So why doesn’t it look like any of the actual G-Wagens that surround our office? Because it isn’t a matt-black private-plated AMG G 63. And for that alone, we love it.

The new LEGO Technic 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line is available now, and you can get your hands on the only six-cylinder not-black G-Class we’ve ever seen for £220/$250.

LEGO Technic 42172 McLaren P1 | Set Preview

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LEGO’s long-standing relationship with McLaren has borne all manner of models over the years, from classic Formula 1 cars to Extreme-E racers, and life-size replicas to Speed Champions miniatures. This though, has instantly become our favourite LEGO McLaren collaboration to date; it’s the brand new 42172 Technic McLaren P1.

Part of LEGO’s flagship Ultimate Collector Series, the new 42172 set recreates McLaren’s iconic P1 supercar in a huge 1:8 scale from a whopping 3,893 pieces, many of which make their debut on this set.

These new parts include never-before-seen curved wheel-arch panels, lovely gunmetal wheels, and the utilisation of flame yellow, with the resulting model looking wonderfully accurate to the mighty 900bhp decade-old supercar.

Underneath that well executed exterior are a V8 engine linked to a 7-speed transmission, all-wheel independent suspension, opening butterfly doors (which required an all-new mechanism), working steering, and deployable rear wing.

There’s also a serious level of attention to detail, both within the engine bay and interior, making 42172 one of the few sets to carry the ’18+’ age stamp that we can well believe.

The brand new LEGO Technic 42172 McLaren P1 set will be available to purchase exclusively from LEGO online/stores from August 1st 2024, carrying a price-tag to match the set’s enormous scale. Expect to pay £389.99 / $449.99 / €449.99, with each set including a unique serial number that unlocks bonus content, and even your non-LEGO-fan friends to want it.

Technic 42174 Emirates Team New Zealand AC75 | Set Preview

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It’s new set time here at The Lego Car Blog! And this one… isn’t a car.

Boats have rarely appeared in the Technic line-up over the years, still less those that don’t have an engine. However for 2024 LEGO aren’t just returning Technic to the waves, they’re doing so using only the power of the wind. This is the brand new LEGO Technic 42174 Emirates Team New Zealand AC75!

Authentically replicating the Emirates Team New Zealand racing yacht, the new 42174 set brings the world-famous America’s Cup race to the Technic range for the first time.

Huge sails printed with the accurate sponsors including Omega, Toyota, and Emirates are among a number of never-seen-before parts and colour combinations, with just under 1,000 pieces in all making up the set.

Those sails can be controlled correctly too, thanks to accurately replicated ‘sheets’ (ropes to non-sailing people) and mechanics, plus the AC75’s cleverest trick is also faithfully recreated in Technic form; two deployable hydrofoils that extend via hand-cranked pneumatics.

A display stand, an 18+ black box, and a £105 price-tag make 42174 a set squarely aimed at adults, and if you like the way the wind is blowing you can set sail with Emirates Team New Zealand from August of this year.

LEGO Icons 10338 Transformers Bumblebee | Set Preview

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TLCB Elves have lost their tiny little minds today, because everyone’s favourite Transformer will soon be available as an official LEGO set; this is the brand new LEGO Icons 10338 Transformers Bumblebee!

Constructed from 950 pieces and matching the scale of the previously revealed Creator 10302 Optimus Prime set, 10338 adopts the new ‘Icons’ marketing, meaning a black box and an 18+ target age, which has nothing to do with build complexity and everything to do with the acceptability for dads to purchase one.

That said, the model is reasonably complicated, being able to – according to the box – ‘convert’ (if only there was another word for when something changes into something else…) from car to robot via some clever hinges, section rotations, and limb extensions.

Said car is not the Chevrolet Camaro from the Michael Bay-era Bumblebee however, and nor is it a Volkswagen Beetle as per the G1 cartoon, although it does have a loose passing resemblance. Instead it’s a slightly sad-looking caricature of something trying to be vaguely ’50s (a Nissan Figaro sprung to our minds), presumably for licensing reasons, although of course LEGO do have a license with both Chevrolet and Volkswagen, which feels like a missed opportunity.

Still, a giant transforming car-robot is always welcome, and you can get your hands on the new 10338 Transformers Bumblebee set from July 1st for around $90 / £90. And, thanks to the black box, even if you’re a 40-something dad.

LEGO Icons 10337 Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole | Set Preview

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The Walkman, the Rubik’s Cube, Breakdancing, the Synthesiser, Big Hair, and Cocaine could all all lay claim to being the most 1980s thing. Here at TLCB however, we think it could well be a white Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quatrovalvole.

The Countach was actually born a decade earlier, but by the ’80s had morphed into an outrageous caricature of itself, perfectly encapsulating the Decade of Excess.

It’s also perhaps the most Lamborghini of Lamborghinis, and therefore the ideal choice to recreate in LEGO form. On sale from next month, LEGO have done just that, with the brand new Icons 10337 Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole.

Constructed from just over 1,500 pieces, the new set includes the Countach’s scissor doors, V12 engine, deep-dish wheels (although we’re not quite sure the rear tyres on the real thing were twice as wide as the fronts), a detailed interior, plus opening front trunk and engine cover, and – to our eyes – it looks absolutely terrific!

Sales begin via lego.com next month, when you can get your hands on the new 10337 Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quatrovalvole set for around $180 / £160. Rubik’s Cube and Cocaine optional.

LEGO Technic 42175 Volvo FMX Truck & EC230 Electric Excavator | Set Preview

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Following our preview earlier this month of the brand new H2 2024 LEGO Technic sets you may have been wondering where the promised fourth real-world vehicle was. Well today can we reveal all, starting – as the more eagle-eyed reader will have spotted – with the new 42175 Volvo FMX Truck & EC230 Electric Excavator not being one real-world vehicle at all, but two.

Following a long tradition of truck-with-trailer-and-vehicular-load Technic sets, 42175 ushers Volvo’s off-road FMX truck and electric EC230 tracked excavator into the Technic line-up, bringing pneumatics back in the process.

Aimed at ages 10+ and constructed from 2,274 pieces, 42175 features working steering, a tilting cab, and a six-cylinder engine on the truck, fold-down ramps on the trailer, and a 360° slewing superstructure and a two-stage pneumatically-operated bucket arm on the excavator.

There’s also a ‘charging station’ that can be lifted off the trailer by the excavator for when it needs some more electricity, which we can only assume in real-life would be a giant battery or – more ironically – a diesel generator. Either way it looks a bit pointless within the set, doing precisely nothing whatsoever.

The three other components (truck, trailer, excavator) look sufficiently playable however, if a little under-endowed aesthetically for the £170 / $200 asking price. This is particularly true for the excavator’s bucket arm, which uses two small buckets to create one of the correct size. If this approach isn’t to support a B-Model, it’s a bit of a corner cut.

Still, 42175 could be a worthwhile addition to the 2024 Technic line up, and you’ll be able to get your hands on it when it reaches stores in August of this year.

LEGO Technic H2 2024 | Set Previews

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Our sneaky Elves, returning from successfully sneaking, have found yet more H2 2024 sets for us to reveal. This time it’s the turn of Technic, with no less than four brand new sets to be added to the line up. Each is an officially-licensed real-world vehicle too, which means in this writer’s case he may finally be able to afford a Koenigsegg!

LEGO Technic 42173 Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut

And here it is, the 42173 Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut. Named after a bottle of vodka and theoretically capable of a top speed of well over 300mph, just 125 Jesko Absoluts will be produced, which means the real deal will be comprehensively out-numbered by its LEGO brother.

Aimed at ages 10+, the new 801-piece set includes a working V8 engine driven by the rear wheels via a differential, ‘hand of god’ steering, and the Jesko’s ‘dihedral synchro-helix door system’. Which basically means they open upwards.

Arriving in August of 2024, expect 42173 to cost around £47 / $50, and for bedroom floors everywhere to become the venue for some serious top speed testing.

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LEGO Technic 42176 Porsche GT4 e-Performance

From the world’s theoretically fastest car, to LEGO’s actual fastest, this is the brand new Control+ powered 42176 Porsche GT4 e-Performance.

Also aimed at ages 10+ and with a similar parts count, 42176 claims to be the fastest remote control LEGO set yet. Servo steering and motorised drive are powered by a new on-board rechargeable battery, operated via the Control+ app.

Said app also controls the working LED lights (via some trick new lighting pieces), and provides ‘live data feedback’, so drivers can perfect chasing the cat.

A range of real-world sponsorship decals (gone are the days of sets wearing stickers saying such things as ‘Race’, ‘En-Jin’, ‘Fuel’ and suchlike) enhance a reasonable approximation of the GT4’s shape, and you’ll be able to get your hands on the fastest LEGO set yet for £150 / $170 when it races into stores on August 1st.

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Lego Technic 42182 NASA Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV

Some of the Lego Community’s very favourite things to create are lunar rovers, with hundreds of all shapes and sizes uploaded each year. All of them can can trace their existence back to this; the Lunar Rover Vehicle, or ‘LRV’.

Packed inside the Apollo 17 mission, the lunar rover carried scientific equipment and astronauts across the moon’s surface, and now – thanks to the new 42182 NASA Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV* set – builders can reimagine this astonishing moment in human history at home.

Constructed from over 1,900 pieces, many of which are accurately coloured in gold and bronze, 42182 can be folded up just like the real thing (or, less exotically, a wheelchair), and features working steering and suspension, brand new tyres, plus tools, some ‘moon rock’, and three separate attachable equipment sets including the wonderfully named ‘Traverse Gravimeter Experiment’.

Which might not sound like much for £190 / $220, but with a black box aimed at ages 18+ and a description using phrases such as ‘a mindful project’, 42182 is targeted very much as a ‘display’ piece, despite its Technic billing. And – as a display piece at least – the 42182 NASA Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV* is out of this world.

*Yes LEGO named 42182 twice. But if it’s good enough for Ferrari and Lamborghini…

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But wait, didn’t you say ‘four brand new sets’? We sure did. We’ll be back with the fourth new addition soon, and it’s a goodie…

Speed Champions H2 2024 | Set Previews

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It’s that time of year again, when a crack team of Elven ‘volunteers’ are implanted into the LEGO Company’s HQ to uncover their latest sets. The return of the survivors heralds the arrival of three brand new Speed Champions sets for H2 2024, bringing even more real world cars to bedroom floors this summer! Read on to find out which cars are set to join to the 2024 Speed Champions line-up!

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76923 Lamborghini Lambo V12 Vision GT

Well, ‘Real world’ cars… except for this one.

Playstation’s ‘Gran Turismo’ series has deployed concepts alongside production cars for some years. Despite having the freedom to design literally anything, these ‘Vision GT’ cars all look rather similar, and the Lamborghini Lambo V12 Vision GT (clearly taking inspiration from a certain moronically-named Ferrari) follows the same route, being both wildly conceptual, and also insipidly paint-by-numbers.

It’s not exactly our first choice for a new Lamborghini Speed Champions set then, and the resultant 230-piece 76923 Lamborghini Lambo V12 Vision GT does little to change that. A funky colour and a new mini-figure torso aren’t enough to swing the balance; our £21/$27 will be spent on a rather better Speed Champions Lamborghini…Lego 76923 Lamborghini Lambo V12 Vision GT

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76924 Mercedes-AMG G63 & SL63

Are you a wealthy Londoner with no imagination? Now you can build your vanity-plated black Mercedes-AMG G 63 in LEGO form! The new-for-2024 76924 Mercedes-AMG G 63 & Mercedes-AMG SL 63 set recreates London’s default 4×4 choice brilliantly, and throws in a neat SL 63 too.

Two appropriately douchebaggy mini-figures, limited well-deployed decals, and some wonderfully accurate detailing on the G 63 in particular ensure 76924 is an excellent addition to the Speed Champions line. Expect to pay around £45/$50 for the dual-model 808-piece set when it arrives in stores in June, and half of Chelsea to own a copy immediately. 

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76925 Aston Martin F1 Safety Car & AMR23

The final addition to the 2024 Speed Champions line-up brings two more Aston Martins to the range, each of which played a starring role in the 2023 Formula 1 season.

The new 76925 Aston Martin F1 Safety Car & AMR23 set recreates F1-legend Fernando Alonso’s podium-placing AMR23 racing car (and that of his decidedly unlegendary, non-podium placing team mate), complete with authentic decals, replica Pirelli tyres, and a rather inexact colour.

The Aston Martin F1 Safety Car – often necessitated by Alonso’s aforementioned incompetent team mate – joins it, with a light bar, accurate be-sticked interior control panel, and the same loose approximation of the real car’s hue.

Aimed at ages 9+, expect 564 pieces, two mini-figures, and a £45/$50 price-tag when 76925 arrives in stores next month.

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Three new sets, five new cars, and even more choice in LEGO’s fantastic Speed Champions range. All three sets will be available from June 1st 2024, and you can check out the sets that were added to the Speed Champions range at the start of the year by clicking here.

LEGO Technic Mercedes-AMG F1 W14… | Set Previews

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#TeamLH #Blessed #Vegan #JoiningFerrarifortheMoney

Shock Formula 1 news this week, as the most successful driver of all time is due to depart the team with whom he has won six World Championships to join Scuderia Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season.

Lewis Hamilton is looking for his eighth title, to take him clear of sharing the championship record with Michael Schumacher, and thinks Ferrari might be the team to do it (despite their long-time strategy of buying past champions, and promptly consigning their winning streak to history). There may also be some money involved.

Cue #TeamLH, surely at the bottom of even the filthy cesspit that is ‘X’, losing their collective minds, and 2024’s Mercedes-AMG F1 W15 being the team’s last to be driven by Lewis.

But back to 2023 – when Hamilton was definitely never ever leaving Mercedes-AMG – and two new LEGO Technic sets that add the season’s second best car to the 2024 Technic line-up; These are the brand new Technic 42165 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance Pull-Back and Technic 42171 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance.

Technic 42165 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance Pull-Back

Constructed from 240 pieces and aimed at ages 7+, the Technic 42165 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance Pull-Back, which we won’t be referring to by its full title again, brings Hamilton’s 2023 Formula 1 racer to bedroom floors for a pocket-money price.

With accurate shaping and livery, plus authentic sponsorship decals, 42165 looks fantastic (even if it doesn’t have slick tyres…. again), making it perhaps the best Pull-Back Technic set LEGO have ever created.

But it’s also $27/£21, which is about twice the price that Technic Pull-Backs used to be. Thus despite being the best ever Pull-Back Technic set, it might simultaneously be the worst $27/£21 one, with no technical features whatsoever.

For #TeamLH* we suspect that won’t matter though, and if you’re among them you can get your hands on the new 42165 Pull-Back when it goes on sale later this year.

Technic 42171 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance

At six times the pieces and nine times the price, this is 42165’s (much) bigger brother; the brand new LEGO Technic 42171 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance.

Aimed at ages 18+, 42171 recreates Lewis Hamilton’s 2023 Formula 1 car at a huge 1:8 scale and, unlike the recent non-specific 42141 Technic McLaren Formula 1 Race Car set, is a true replica of its real-world counterpart.

With accurate sponsorship decals and awesome new slick tyres (hurrah!!), 42171 certainly looks the part, but is perhaps a bit light on the technical bits. There’s working steering, a V6 engine and rear differential, an opening rear wing mimicking DRS, and… that’s it. Which is about as much a set costing a quarter of the price. And that price is $220/£190.

Thus despite its 1,520 pieces, 42171 is going to be a rather exclusive set. Which is suitably Formula 1. Expect to see those ace new tyres opening up a world of new creations though…

*If #TeamLH discover that LEGO included an Ayrton Senna mini-figure in the Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 set, but that neither of these Mercedes-AMG F1 sets include a miniature Lewis Hamilton, Twitter’s going to explode.

LEGO Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna | Set Preview

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LEGO and McLaren have been hard at work, because the Speed Champions 76919 2023 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car is not the only new McLaren Formula 1 set to arrive in 2024. This is the new LEGO Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna!

Arriving in March of this year, 10330 brings one of Formula 1’s most famous cars to the Icons range; the McLaren-Honda MP4/4, which – in the hands of Aytron Senna and Alain Prost – won an incredible 15 of the 16 races in the 1988 Formula 1 season, and gave Senna his first Driver’s World Championship.

The first LEGO set to wear the Honda badge (which means we might get to see more Honda sets in future), 10330 is constructed from 693 pieces and includes working steering, a detailed (but non-working) replica of the RA168E V6 turbo engine, suspension (we’re guessing rubber blocks rather than springs here…), plus authentic slick tyres and sponsors. Those tyres will be particularly exciting for many Lego fans, who’ve never yet had access to non-treaded rubber.

But what of the 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna set’s ‘& Ayrton Senna’ bit? Well, the late Ayrton Senna’s name is a carefully curated brand in its own right these days, and 10330 duly comes with an inappropriately-sized mini-figure that looks vaguely like him.

However with under 700 pieces yet costing $80/£70, we’d rather have saved a few quid to not have the pointless mini-figure and additional branding associated with it. Still, LEGO no doubt calculated the ‘& Ayrton Senna’ bit resonates with the set’s 18+ target age group, and thus kinda-Senna is here, holding a trophy and looking rather superfluous alongside the racing car in which he drove.

Dubious mini-figure inclusion and high price aside though, the LEGO Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 (& Ayrton Senna) set does look rather excellent, and you’ll be able to get your hands on one when they reach stores in March of this year.

Speed Champions 76919 2023 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car | Set Preview

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During our reveal of the 2024 LEGO Speed Champions sets, fans may have noticed that one number, 76919, was missing. Well it’s missing no more; this is the brand new 76919 2023 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car!

Replicating last year’s podium-placing McLaren MCL60 racing car (although peculiarly not called that), 76919 recreates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s 2023 challenger from 245 papaya and black pieces, and about the same number of stickers.

It’s here we’d normally bemoan the stickerage, but in the case of a Formula 1 car, where the real thing wears sponsors on every inch of bodywork, they create wonderful authenticity. Every real McLaren Team sponsor is included, even the dodgy crypto-currency ones, whilst the slick tyres wear accurate Pirelli-printed type too.

The new 76919 2023 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car will reach stores in March of 2024, and we’re hoping it’s the start of many more LEGO Speed Champions replica F1 racers.

Speed Champions 2024 | Set Previews

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It’s that time of year again, when a special group of Lego Car Blog Elves, chosen due to their expendability… er, we mean ‘bravery’, are selected for a top secret mission.

That mission is to infiltrate The LEGO Company’s HQ, avoid being eaten by the German Shepherds, and return triumphant / mildly chewed to TLCB Towers having scooped the brand new Speed Champions sets joining the line-up.

But why risk our mythical workers for a few LEGO sets? Partly because we never seem to run out of them, but mostly it’s because the Speed Champions theme is the best decision LEGO have made since they invented the LEGO brick. Real-world cars for pocket money prices? What’s not to love. And here are the new ones…

76920 Ford Mustang Dark Horse

LEGO will never run out of real-world Mustangs to recreate in brick form. Ford’s seemingly endless supply of special edition ‘stangs – all stupidly named and all equally likely to stack it leaving a car meet – culminated in 2023* with this, the 500bhp ‘Dark Horse’.

Created from 344 pieces, the Speed Champions 76920 Ford Mustang Dark Horse looks right on the money – although inevitably with a few more stickers than we’d like to see – and features some surprisingly complex SNOT techniques, particularly to create the hood and rear window.

A female mini-figure driver is included and we expect 76902 to cost around £20/$26 from March next year, when you’ll be able to recreate your very favourite Mustang crashes at home.

*Until Ford release the next Mustang special edition in a few weeks.

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76921 Audi S1 e-tron quattro

The second new entry to the 2024 Speed Champions range brings a prototype all-electric racing car to the line-up; this is the Audi S1 e-tron quattro, using all lower-case because that’s cooler, and as deployed brilliantly in the last ever Ken Block ‘Gymkhana’ film.

Aimed at ages 9+, the new Speed Champions 76921 Audi S1 e-tron quattro is constructed from 274 pieces, of which about half of them wear a sticker.

The result looks as wild as the real thing, and whilst we bemoan the uses of decals to create every single detail, they are at least individual to each part, allowing the model to be deconstructed and the pieces re-purposed, as LEGO should be.

Priced identically to the 76920 Mustang Dark Horse above, 76921 will reach store shelves in March 2024 where for us, it’ll stay. Bricks beat stickers, every time.

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76922 BMW M4 GT3 & BMW M-Hybrid V8

The final new addition to the H1 2024 Speed Champions range is a racing car double, the Speed Champions 76922 BMW M4 GT3 & BMW M-Hybrid V8.

Featuring 676 pieces, 76922 includes new wheels and a racing driver mini-figure for each of the real-world BMW racers, with plenty of SNOT techniques and even more plentiful stickers doing a great job of recreating BMW Motorsport’s mega four-colour livery.

We expect 76922 to cost around 60% more than the single car Speed Champions sets when it races into stores next year, and it could be the pick of the bunch.

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That’s the brand new LEGO Speed Champions line-up for 2024; three new sets, four new cars, and about a million stickers. They do look good though.

Each will be available from March next year, with prices expected between £20/$26 and £35/$45. Great stuff.