This life-size Lego McLaren P1 can hit almost 40MPH

/

Building this full-scale McLaren replica required over 342,817 Technic pieces, and it’s powered by 768 Lego electric motors.

By Andrew Liszewski, a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2011, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid.

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

A life-size Lego replica of a McLaren P1 hypercar parked in front of the real thing.

Lego’s McLaren P1 isn’t quite as fast as the real deal.
Image: Lego

After releasing a 24-inch long scale replica of the McLaren P1 earlier this year, Lego has now debuted a full-size, driveable version of the hypercar built from over 342,817 Technic pieces and powered by hundreds of Lego electric motors.

That eclipses the 3,893 pieces that go into building Lego’s 1:8-scale McLaren P1 model. The company says the full-scale version used 393 types of Technic components, including 11 specifically manufactured for the replica. That would make it hard to build a copy yourself, but you’d also struggle to find the time. Lego says it took 6,134 hours to design and plan its P1 and 2,210 hours to assemble it.

Lego opted to build with Technic components instead of its standard bricks as it allowed the company’s designers to recreate the curves of the hypercar and incorporate some flex into the P1 replica’s body, mimicking the performance of the carbon fiber used to make the real thing.

Two builders sitting inside the full size Lego replica of the McLaren P1.

Two builders sitting inside the full size Lego replica of the McLaren P1.
A metal frame beneath the body provides enough support for someone to actually drive Lego’s McLaren P1 replica.
Image: Lego

The P1 replica isn’t entirely made from Lego. Underneath the body is a steel frame, and it rolls on the same tires and wheels as the real thing so that it’s strong enough to support a human driver. There’s also an electric car battery inside, but the P1 is powered by a total of 768 Lego electric motors divided into eight motor packs to mimic the V8 engine in the original P1.

All of those motors work together to propel the 2,690-pound Lego replica — which is about 385 pounds lighter than the real thing — to a top speed of around 40mph, according to Autocar. It’s not going to set any records, but McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris did climb behind the wheel and successfully drive it around a full lap of the same Silverstone Circuit he raced during the British Grand Prix.

This isn’t the first time Lego has attempted to super-size one of its hypercar models. In 2018, the company created a full-scale replica of the Bugatti Chiron using over a million Lego Technic pieces. Although it weighed almost 1,400 pounds less than the real Chiron, Lego’s version could only muster a top speed of just over 12mph, and it lacked the ability to steer, limiting where it could be driven.

Go to Source