Always hankered after an incredibly detailed, thorough model of a McLaren P1, but wanted to build it yourself? You, my friend, are in luck: meet the Lego Technic P1.
Technic, as you’ll no doubt be aware by now, is Lego’s line of extremely detailed, intricate sets, often featuring various moving parts recreated exquisitely in blocky plastic. There have been plenty of cars given the treatment, some in enormous 1:8 scale form.
Lego Technic McLaren P1 box
These absolute units include the Lamborghini Sian, Ferrari Daytona SP3 and Bugatti Chiron, and now you can add the P1 to your dream garage of slightly blocky, eighth-size hypercars that you’ve built yourself.
The set clocks in at some 3,893 individual elements, and fully recreates some of the real thing’s standout features in Lego form. These include the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, suspension, active rear wing and theatrical dihedral doors.
Lego Technic McLaren P1 – engine bay
Each set also gets a unique serial number, which can apparently be used to unlock behind-the-scenes content online.
“We worked on multiple variations of the car to test different designs,” says Lego designer Kasper Rene Hansen. “We also faced a huge challenge with the iconic butterfly doors because they needed a new mechanism to stay open.”
Lego Technic McLaren P1 at the McLaren Technology Centre
Meanwhile, McLaren’s chief design officer, Tobias Sühlmann, said: “It’s amazing to see so many of the elements from the original P1 brought to life by the LEGO team for the LEGO Technic McLaren P1™. I hope this collaboration inspires the next generation of designers and engineers to push the boundaries of automotive innovation.”
Anyway, now that we’re into the second half of the year, it’s basically nearly Christmas. If you’re planning on grabbing one of these as a gift, now’s probably the time to start saving, because as usual with the really big Technic sets, it doesn’t come cheap: it’ll be £389.99 when it goes on sale on 1 August. Still, we imagine the satisfaction of building it will be well worth it.
