Most F1 automobiles can attain speeds of properly over 200 mph, however the latest cars within the F1 secure go a lot a lot sluggish. Constructed from 400,000 Lego items, the life-size Lego automobiles can drive 12 mph—not unhealthy for a bunch of plastic bricks.
To mark the beginning of a multiyear partnership, the Danish toy maker created 10 drivable, full-scale System 1 automobiles that debuted on the Miami Grand Prix. The racing sequence’ 20 opponents, together with pace demons Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, drove the Lego automobiles at Sunday’s prerace Drivers’ Parade for tens of millions of followers watching from the grandstands and on tv.
The “massive construct” automobiles took Lego builders a collective 22,000 hours over eight months to assemble the 4 million items. It’s Lego’s most difficult venture by dimension and scale, in line with Chief Advertising Officer Julia Goldin. The automobiles showcase every staff’s distinctive livery however share the cockpit, chassis, and parts essential to cowl the circuit’s three-mile inaugural lap.
“We every wish to push the artwork of inconceivable, to push the boundaries,” Goldin advised Quick Firm in an interview on Friday on the trackside Lego Storage.
Drivable, life-size Legos
Lego has made a mark with life-size, or larger-than-life, public artwork installations at establishments from New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport to the Volvo Museum in Sweden.
However the System 1 automobiles boast a novel distinction, says Marcel Šťastný, the venture’s lead engineer: They’re prepared for the race observe.
The almost 1:1 scale fashions attain about 12 mph utilizing automotive elements contained throughout the construction and genuine Pirelli tires. They herald Lego’s new Velocity Champions product line based mostly on race automobiles from Ferrari, McLaren, and different groups, with equipment from driver minifigures in full racing gear to substitute hub caps.
In fact, they differ from precise System 1 automobiles in two key methods: efficiency and design. A contemporary F1 automotive makes use of a 1.6-liter V6 turbo engine and two electrical motors to provide round 1,000 horsepower and journey upwards of 200 mph. And in contrast to the official single-seat race automobiles, Lego’s design matches two folks. Lego created the twin cockpit particularly to be able to accommodate every staff’s driver pairs through the parade.
“The start of the idea was actually becoming two folks inside, after which we constructed the remainder of the automotive across the cockpit,” says Jonathan Jurion, the venture’s senior designer.
However making room for 2 folks contained in the automotive wasn’t the venture’s solely problem. Because the opponents didn’t get a check run forward of the general public debut, Lego additionally needed to create adjustable seats and pedals throughout the cockpit to accommodate the drivers’ heights. The venture’s engineering supervisor specialist Martin Šmida says his staff used animation runs and private measurements to make sure a match on race day.
After which there was the compressed timeline, with the venture kicking off final August.
“We did 10 automobiles within the period of time it might usually take to do one automotive,” Jurion says. “We didn’t wish to lower any corners, so we needed to suppose out of the field methods to streamline the method whereas making a customized design for every one.”
From CAD to hand-built
Regardless of a frenetic begin off the road, the venture started with the identical computer-aided design train utilized by the 400-plus Lego merchandise launched every year.
“We mannequin the automobiles first within the laptop as a result of it’s an enormous quantity of bricks,” Jurion says. “Now we have specialists who work on the shapes and types, and others who work on the design of the detailing and logos.”
The design then shuffles by way of the pipeline, to technical engineers and manufacturing engineers “who ensure that we will construct these, as a result of it’s probably not a simple process,” he provides.
Designers and engineers used foam mockups to collaborate on a format that hid the drivetrain, which features a motor and a 105 amp-hour battery. (Lego lower its tooth final 12 months on a full-scale McLaren P1 that Lando Norris took for a spin on England’s Silverstone Circuit. However as an alternative of conventional Lego bricks, that automotive used bolts, gears and pins from Lego’s superior Technic system.)
“Now we have particular builders who actually know methods to construct these enormous builds, they usually take the constructing directions from the manufacturing engineers after which construct them, type of layer by layer, like we might construct a home,” Jurion provides.
The automobiles have been assembled by hand at Lego’s manufacturing unit within the Czech Republic however glued collectively for his or her System 1 debut. “All of the bricks you possibly can see are off-the-shelf bricks,” Jurion says. “Probably, if anybody has sufficient bricks, they may construct them at house.”
“Gluing the bricks collectively is clearly one thing that we don’t need our followers to do in actual life, however we needed to do it in order that we preserve the automobiles collectively,” he added. “We don’t wish to lose any bricks on observe.”
Multiyear progress
Lego and System 1 alike have lengthy had loyal followers prepared to shell out prime greenback for the expertise, however each manufacturers have surged in recognition—particularly amongst girls, youngsters and households, in line with Goldin—because the COVID-19 pandemic. A brand new viewers turned, or returned, to Lego units throughout lockdown, boosted by the LegoMasters actuality tv sequence, whereas Netflix’s Drive to Survive, now filming its eighth season, has introduced tens of millions of recent followers to motorsports.
Knowledge present that F1 has seen a specific surge in progress amongst youngsters between ages 8 and 12. Lego continues to develop, as properly, slated to start building on its first U.S. manufacturing unit, a $1 billion manufacturing unit exterior Richmond, Virginia, in mid-2027.
Goldin declined to supply the full funding determine for the System 1 partnership however says there’s extra to come back. “This units the bar excessive, however we undoubtedly don’t consider this as a one-off.”
Add comment