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McLaren Formula 1 Team driver Lando Norris took a lap around the Silverstone Circuit in a real-life LEGO replica of the legendary McLaren P1
Image credits:The LEGO Group and McLaren Automotive
The LEGO Technic Ultimate Car Concept Series was launched in 2016 and every other year, the concept has brought a special vehicle to life, yet this time, the LEGO Group and McLaren Automotive came up with a truly groundbreaking and probably the toughest LEGO Technic challenge to date.
With 8,344 hours of development and construction, 23 specialists from design,engineeringand building created the one-of-a-kind, fully drivable McLaren P1. This life-size replica was made from 393 different types of LEGO Technic elements, including 11 that were molded specifically for this model. The car weighed almost 1220 kg and had some remarkable displays of engineering.
For those wondering, this is not a bunch of LEGO glued to a car, as it might look at first sight, staring at the photos. Actually, only very few parts of the full-scale car were not made of LEGO: the aforementioned electric battery (the rest of the engine was made of LEGO motor packs, to build the P1’s real-life V8), the tires, seatbelt, steering wheel, and brakes, alongside LEGO ones.
“The car was an icon of its time. I hope that through this collaboration with the LEGO Group, we are able to inspire the next generation of designers and engineers to push the boundaries of automotive innovation,” he added.
The fully drivable replica of the McLaren P1 supercar was made from 342,817 LEGO elements and weighs 1,220 kilos
Impressively enough, this one-of-a-kind car’s engine had 8 motor packs, imitating the V8 seen in the original McLaren P1. Each of the packs consisted of 96 LEGO Power function motors, which means the car had a total of 768 LEGO motors that could propel it to 40 mph.
It was the first time a LEGO Technic model had been created with a suspension chassis. There was no carbon fiber; therefore, the team had to find a suitable texture using LEGO Technic elements.
“We wanted the skin to be flexible so that we can replicate all the curvature that’s on the real car,” explained LEGO design manager Lubor Zelinka. “When you see something that you only imagined a few months ago come to life, it’s worth every stress along the way,”he added.
When everything was finally assembled, the only thing left to do was to see if the car could be really driven. This ultimate challenge was entrusted to 24-year-old Lando Norris, who’s the youngest ever British Formula 1 driver and who currently races for McLaren.
“It wasincredibly coolto see McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris driving the car we created,” said Lukáš Horák, Senior Project Manager in Model Production for the LEGO Group. “McLaren’s automotive and engineering expertise has been invaluable inhelpingus produce a model as authentic to the original McLaren P1 as possible, allowing us to turn a dream into a reality.”
Lando took a ride around the Silverstone Circuit track on September 12th, 2024 and this way marked the first time a LEGO scale build has been able to drive around corners and complete a lap of a race track.
“It felt like a car,” shared Lando after his lap of Silverstone. “The steering I felt was pretty good. Copse, I did it flat.”
You can find the video about how Lando Norris completed this ultimate challenge in the life-size LEGO Technic McLaren P1here.
“Everything you can imagine is real,” Pablo Picasso once said and it seems that the LEGO engineers and McLaren team know this better than anyone else. They not only managed to achieve somethingtruly remarkable, yet also broke their own limits of building for real.
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