Tag Archives: Turbo

Wait For It…

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These days, everything is turbocharged. Which normally means a tiny engine, often with three-cylinders, fitted under the hood of a homogenous crossover. Sigh. But turbos used to be cool. Albeit laggy.

This is the BMW 2002 Turbo, one of the first turbocharged production cars, and powered by a 2.0 litre engine fitted with a 0.55 bar twin-scroll KK&K turbocharger that boosted power to almost 170bhp. Well, it did once the turbo-lag was over, usually a few seconds after you asked for it.

Launched in 1973, the 2002 Turbo’s arrival coincided exactly with the oil crisis, which meant it wasn’t exactly a success. The technology it pioneered however, is now fitted to almost every new non-electrified car on sale, and with the lag left in the past.

This excellent brick-built homage to the 2002 Turbo comes from brickphisto of Flickr, who has recreated it beautifully in 8-wide form. The doors, trunk, and hood all open, under the last of which is a replica of the M10-turbo engine that powered it, and there’s more of the model to see at brickphisto’s photostream. Put your foot down and wait a few seconds via the link above.

Tiny Turbo

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This is a Honda’s B-Series engine, as used in numerous Civics, Preludes and Accords in the late-’80s to late-’90s, and the genesis of VTEC. Available from 1.6 to 2.0 litres in capacity, the B-Series could rev to over 8,000rpm, and became one of Honda’s defining accomplishments.

An engineering masterpiece, Honda’s B-Series has featured in quite a few Lego Hondas over the years. Except of course, it hasn’t. Not really. But today we really do have a Lego Honda B-Series, because this amazing creation is a fully working replica of the B16.

Complete with brick-built pistons, crank, manifold, wastegate and ancillaries, this remarkable build captures every aspect of the real Honda engine inside and out, and – purely because it’s cool – in the version we’ve pictured above builder Delton Adams has added a motorised turbocharger for added ‘phish – whuudududu!’ noise imaginings.

As wonderful as it is unusual, there’s a whole lot more of Delton’s incredible Honda B16 to see – both in original and turbo-modded forms – at his Flickr album of the same name. Reliably rev your way to 8,400rpm* via the link in the text above.

*Unless you’ve added turbocharger for ‘phish – whuudududu!’ noises of course.

Paint it Black

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This splendid creation is a Porsche 911 (964) Turbo, and it isn’t quite possible to build in black. But is is possible to build it in red, which is why we’ve pictured a black one here obviously.

Designed by previous bloggee ArtemyZotov, this fantastic 1:12 recreation of the early-’90s 911 features opening doors, front trunk and engine cover, a fully removable body, working steering, independent suspension, and a detailed flat-6 engine.

Artemy has produced building instructions too, so you can recreate this outstanding model for yourself, although only in red. Which is fine by us at it looks the business in red.

Artemy didn’t have all the red pieces for his design, hence the black build with a few (cough) clone parts, however you can see what the 911 looks like rendered in red at the Eurobricks forum, plus you can find the full gallery of the black brick-built version you see here at Bricksafe.

Take a look via the links in the text above and perhaps create Artemy’s brilliant 911 Turbo for yourself. In red of course.

*Today’s title song.

Rust n’ Dust

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It wasn’t just British and Italian cars in the late-’70s and ’80s that failed to start in the morning and/or dissolved if they got wet. No, the French made some awful cars too, including today’s, the woeful Renault 20.

Sitting at the top of their line-up, there was (much like the aforementioned British and Italian cars) a lot to like about Renault’s executive hatchback, including some innovative engineering that included both crumple zones and side-impact protection.

But none of that mattered when the cars were heroically unreliable, tragically underpowered, and rusted within just a few years of leaving the forecourt, resulting in a resale value of almost nothing at all. Still, there is one Renault 20 we like, the pioneering Turbo 4×4 Dakar, with a 1.6 litre turbocharged rally engine and all-wheel-drive courtesy of the rear axle from a Renault Trafic van.

Constructed by Flickr’s NV Carmocs, this 8-wide replica of the Renault 20 Turbo 4×4 captures the 1982 Dakar-winning car beautifully, thanks in part to a superbly accurate livery and some brilliant photo editing.

There’s much more of NV’s Renault 20 to see at their photostream, and you can head to the desert in 1982 via the link above, where the lack of rain and a whole load of available spare parts were probably sorely missed by every other Renault 20 owner at the time…

In the Shadows

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Here around TLCB Towers the default vehicle of choice is a black-on-black SUV with a vanity plate. Because the British public have no imagination. But black-on-black can look awesome, as evidenced here by Flickr’s SFH_Bricks and this brilliant mid-’70s Porsche 911 Turbo, which is both constructed and presented in black. Photographing an all-black build can be a tricky exercise, but SFH has nailed it, placing his creation on a black background with clever highlighting, and you can join him in the shadows via the link above.

Advanced Turbo Intercooling

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It’s the ’80s, and everything has a ‘Turbo’ badge, because turbos are cool. But you know what’s cooler than a turbo? Advanced Turbo Intercooling, that’s what. And it wasn’t a European sports car or Japanese techno-fest that pioneered it, but Dutch truck-maker DAF.

The DAF 3600 FTG ATi was one of the first to feature an intercooled turbocharged diesel engine, which – in top trim – made a hefty 370bhp. And it had a hypoid drive axle, which sounds nearly as cool as Advanced Turbo Intercooling.

This incredible Model Team example comes from previous bloggee Nanko Klein Paste, and it is stunning in its realism. Based on a real DAF 3600 FTG ATi operated by ‘G.J. van Die’, Nanko has replicated every detail, including applying excellent custom decals to recreate the livery worn by its life-size counterpart.

Just one image is available at the time of writing but it’s well worth checking out, showing both this astonishing creation as well as the real truck it replicates so beautifully. Click the link above to visit Nanko’s photostream and spool up your turbo.

Smoking Silhouette

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Lancia’s magnificent mid-engined Stratos is one of World Rallying’s most famous cars, winning the Championship three years in a row from 1974 to ’76.

But less well known is that the Stratos lived beyond its World Rally Championship success, becoming a turbocharged silhouette circuit racer in the wild late-’70s Group 5 ‘Special Production Car’ era.

Only the hood, roof, and doors had to remain production spec, leading to some pretty loose interpretations of ‘Production Car’, with Lancia’s Group 5 entry no different.

Created by Alan Guerzoni, this homage to the Group 5 Stratos Turbo captures its bizarre aesthetic brilliantly, with custom decals (including obligatory ’70s cigarette marketing) and 3D-printed wheels adding to the accuracy. Head to a circuit c1976 and hold on tight.

Forgotten Fuego

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This slice of ’80s Frenchness is a Renault Fuego, a compact lift-back coupe built from 1980 to 1986 In Europe, and up until 1992 in South America.

Powered by a range of engines from a 1.4 to a 2.2, via 1.6 Turbo (this was the ’80s) and even a 2.1 turbodiesel, the Fuego was the best selling coupe in Europe and the UK at the time, and was the first car to feature steering-wheel-mounted stereo controls, one of the earliest available with remote central locking, and was once the fastest diesel production car in the world, with a top speed of, er… 110mph. It was even marketed in America where, conversely to Europe and the UK, no-one cared.

Despite its success in TLCB’s home market however, such is the rate of attrition of ’80s cars just eighteen Renault Fuegos survive on the UK roads today. Which is rather a shame, so here’s a brick-built homage to the forgotten French coupe, created beautifully in Model Team form by SIM CAMAT of Flickr.

Cunning brickwork, opening doors, a detailed interior, an opening bonnet, and a lifelike engine all feature, and there’s more of SIM’s brilliant Renault Fuego to see at his photostream. Click the link above to blip your key remote, get behind the controls on the steering wheel, and hit a diesely 110mph on a French autoroute.

Twin Turbos

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Suggested by a reader, these two Porsche 911 Turbos come from Petey Bird of Flickr, who has captured the 1990s incarnation of Porsche’s iconic sports car beautifully in Speed Champions form. Curve bricks are used in abundance to replicate the famous shape, with some rather clever side-windows too, and there’s more of Petey’s Porsches to see at his photostream via the link above.

Stick it to ’em

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The Lego Car Blog regularly chastises LEGO for their increasing and often unnecessary use of stickers in sets. Said sticky pictures have been dubiously deployed to create details that should be constructed from actual LEGO pieces, until that is, they inevitably peel off and you’re left with no details at all. We hate them.

So here’s a creation covered in a veritable butt-ton of stickers…

No, we’re not consistent. But nuno_g_teixeira’s be-stickered recreation of the 1981 Monte Carlo rally-winning Renault 5 Turbo is glorious.

Underneath the beautifully accurate decals, custom 3D-printed wheels, steering wheel and Recaro seats applied by Nuno is Lachlan Cameron’s brilliant Technic Renault 5 Turbo road car that appeared here last month.

Nuno’s fantastic rallyfication of Lachlan’s design replicates the rally-winning Renault in spectacular detail, largely thanks to the incredible period-correct livery of which you can see more at Lachlan’s photostream. Maybe stickers are alright after all…

High Five

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It’s not just Chrysler from an earlier post this week that went mad for a bit. The French have a history of going berserk, automotively speaking, with even Renualt – who currently manufacture nothing but boring crossovers – having moments of insanity. This is their best.

The Renault 5 was an excellent city car. Front-wheel-drive, well packaged, safely slow. Not a rally car then. But Renault wanted to go rallying, and thus they took their aforementioned econo-box, removed the engine, turbocharged it, and then put it back in where the rear seats used to be. And let it power the rear wheels instead.

The result was the Renault 5 Turbo, a wild mid-engined super-hatch designed to go rallying, with just under 5,000 across two generations also produced for the road. Road cars made a healthy-for-the-time 160bhp, but in rally trim the R5 Turbo could make almost 400bhp (from just 1.4 litres!), and won the Monte Carlo Rally at the first attempt in 1981.

The spectacular Technic model pictured here is a recreation of the road going R5 Turbo, as built by TLCB Master MOCer Lachlan Cameron (aka Lox Lego). Featuring remote control drive and steering, LED lights, working suspension, opening doors, front trunk and tailgate, and – of course – a mid-mounted engine, Lachlan’s creation captures Renault’s moment of madness brilliantly, and there’s a whole lot more of it to see at his ‘Renault Turbo R5’ album on Flickr.

Click the second link above to make the jump to all the images, and the first to read how Lachlan creates his amazing models like this one.

Maximum Five

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Renault are weird. They’ve made wonderful cars, dull cars, terrible cars, and this… a supermini with a mid-mounted 1.4 litre turbo that produced – in race trim – around 380bhp. Back in the early ’80s!

That remarkable figure propelled the Renault 5 Maxi Turbo to the top step of the podium on its maiden event, at the 1981 Monte Carlo Rally.

This WRC success was to be relatively short-lived though, as the arrival of Group B and all-wheel-drive meant the Maxi Turbo was quickly outclassed on anything that wasn’t tarmac.

When an event was on tarmac though, the little Renault continued to be a formidable racer, finding success for the next two decades.

This lovely Speed Champions recreation of the legendary ’80s rally car was found by one of our Elves on Flickr, coming from Fabrice Larcheveque who has updated (and beautifully presented) a model he first created several years ago.

Authentic bespoke decals, a realistic interior, life-like engine bay, and even a roll-cage make for an exceptionally detailed Speed Champions creation, and there’s more to see – including a link to building instructions – at Fabrice’s ‘Renault 5 Maxi Turbo’ album on Flickr.

Click the link above to take a look and maybe recreate the 1981 Monte Carlo Rally on your desk at home. Not that we’re doing that right now of course, we’re much too grown up…

High Five

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Renualt’s humble 5 was a shopping-car favourite in the 1980s. And a joke by the 1990s. Now that most have been thrown away though, they are properly cool. Particularly in ‘Turbo’ flavour, from back when a whole model could simply be called ‘Turbo’ and nothing else, as it was clearly the most important bit.

Cue Darren Thew’s wonderful Renault 5 Turbo rally car, in tarmac ‘Tour de Corse’ specification, and sporting some fantastically accurate decals (which the Elves seem to really like too for some reason).

Blending Technic and System parts beautifully, Darren’s Renault 5 includes a detailed interior, complete with roll cage and harnesses, plus a highly accurate dashboard and controls, whilst under the opening hood is superb replica of the 5’s four-cylinder engine, including the famed forced-induction component that the whole car was named after.

It’s a brilliant build and one that’s definitely worth a closer look. Spool up your turbo and head to Corsica in the 1980s by clicking these words, plus here’s a bonus link of the real Renault 5 Turbo Tour de Corse winner in action.

A Whale of a Time

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We’re not sure why whales are renowned for having such a good time, but we guess their partying reputation fits with the matra ‘Go Big or Go Home’.

Whatever the reason, Porsche decided that their 911 could do with being a bit more whaley in the 1970s, and fitted it with a huge ‘whale tail’ spoiler. And a turbo.

Said turbo added to the whaley fun, providing absolutely no power at all for a long time, and then suddenly all the power at once. This meant ’70s 911 Turbo drivers did indeed have a whale of a time right up until the point when they were upside-down in a field. That’s ‘Go Big or Go Home’ again we suppose…

This brilliant Porsche 911 Turbo comes from barneius, who has recreated the whale-tailed classic superbly in 8-wide Speed Champions scale. There are more beautifully sharp images available to view on Flickr, where you can also find a link to building instructions so that you can recreate chronic turbo lag and snap oversteer in miniature at home!

Click the link above to have a whale of a time!

Creator Expert 10295 Porsche 911 | Set Preview

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Yes yes yes! LEGO’s partnership with real-world vehicle manufacturers is probably the best thing the company has done since inventing the brick itself, and in no set is this more evident than the brand new 10295 Creator Expert Porsche 911.

Containing a whopping 1,458 pieces and aimed at ages 18+, the 10295 Porsche 911 sets a new high for the Creator Expert series.

Two iconic ’80s versions of the Porsche 911 can be built from 10295; the pretty Targa, or the yuppie-killing Turbo. Each measures over 35cm in length and features working steering, opening doors, engine cover (under which the Turbo features a replica turbocharged flat-6 engine) and front trunk (under which the Targa’s removable roof can be stowed).

An excellent (and very brown) interior contrasts beautifully with the white bodywork, and makes this – in our opinion – probably the finest Creator Expert set yet.

The new Creator Expert 10295 Porsche 911 set will reach stores in March of this year with a recommended retail price of $150/£120, which is rather a lot for a toy, but not a lot at all for a classic Porsche 911. Plus there’s also the 75895 Speed Champions version so you can get your brick-built classic 911 fix for pocket money.

Top job LEGO!