Do you enjoy building LEGOs with your friends and family? The Danish toy company recently built one you can drive – a full-scale McLaren P1!
It’s a supercar made almost entirely of the iconic plastic blocks, save for the wheels and steel frame.
McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris took it for a spin at the Silverstone Circuit for a full lap.
READ: Paragraphica AI camera doesn’t use lenses
Motoring news website Autocar says it can run at 40 mph. This is a major improvement over 2018’s LEGO Bugatti Chiron replica, which only topped over 12 mph.
How did LEGO build a supercar?
The official LEGO website created its McLaren P1 replica using Technic parts, instead of its standard bricks.
Technic is the toy company’s specific line for building small-scale vehicle replicas with machine parts like motors.
The Danish toymaker used over 342,817 LEGO Technic pieces and molded 11 new types for this project.
23 McLaren Automotive and LEGO specialists took 8,344 hours to develop and build the vehicle.
Eventually, they finished constructing the 1,220 kg. McLaren P1 replica with its only non-LEGO components – the steel frame, tires and wheels.
These parts enabled the full-scale model to support a human driver.
This supercar is an EV running on 768 LEGO electric motors.
The builders divided it into eight motor packs that mimic the original P1’s V8 engine.
McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris ran it for an entire lap at the top speed of 40mph.
In contrast, McLaren says the original P1’s top speed is 217mph. Nevertheless, the replica set the following records:
- The first full-scale LEGO car that can drive around corners
- First full-scale replica that can finish a race track lap
- The first replica driven by an official Formula One racer
LEGO hasn’t opened the full-scale McLaren P1 model at the time of writing.
Fortunately, you may purchase the 1:8 scale replica for $449.99 on the official website.