McLaren Automotive and the LEGO Group have pulled off a surreal mission: after investing almost a year of work, they have assembled a replica of the McLaren P1 sports car from the toy manufacturer’s basic components rather than carbon fibre, and then mounted it on the grid at Silverstone. And it worked!
The project was carried out in Kladno, Czech Republic, where the two companies, with the participation of a total of 23 designers, engineers and construction specialists, began to build a 1:1 scale sports car from Lego Tecnic elements. Without the use of carbon fiber elements, everything possible was assembled from Lego – of course, the essential accessories for the car's operation, such as the engine, wheels and electronics, were an exception.
The car was made up of a total of 342,817 Lego pieces, weighing 380 kg. It took 8,344 man-hours, or 347 days, or nearly a year of continuous work, to build.
The aim was to demonstrate the functionality of Lego-McLaren, so the architectural masterpiece was taken to Silverstone, and F1 driver Lando Norris was invited to test it.
“I’m sorry you had to build this!” Norris commented to the producers, seeing the result of their long and meticulous work. The British pilot then put on his helmet, got into the car, and took off with him. Back in the pit lane, he summed up his experience by saying that the driving feeling was very similar to that of a real car. He added that he took off into the famous Copse corner using the floor throttle, although there are no reports of the maximum speed his Lego McLaren was capable of.
