LEGO released a brand new theme this month called LEGO Speed Champions, in partnership with three automobile manufacturers; Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche. The seven sets in the line feature various racecars based on real vehicles. Four of the sets include just one racecar, and three others include a more expanded car racing scene. The target audience LEGO had in mind is 5 to 11 year-olds, however teen and adult LEGO fans and racecar collectors have also been showing great interest. So let’s take a closer look at the new LEGO Speed Champion sets. 🙂
➡ #75913 F14 T & SCUDERIA FERRARI TRUCK: Transport the iconic Scuderia Ferrari team to the race track! Drive the Scuderia Ferrari team and F14 T race car to the circuit in the fully-equipped Scuderia Ferrari truck. Open up the roof of the cabin to place the truck driver at the steering wheel with a team crew member alongside. Detach the trailer and turn the lever to release the standing feet. Fold out the roof and sides to access the awesome race car, scooter and array of cool equipment including a complete tool set and computer screens. Lower the rear hatch and activate the launch function to push the F14 T down the ramp. Then challenge your friends and their LEGO Speed Champions cars to thrilling races! Includes 6 minifigures with assorted accessories: a driver, team truck driver and 4 team crew members. 884 pieces. Price: $99 – BUY HERE
LEGO has been having a long-time relationship with Ferrari going back to at least the mid-’90s. Since then they have released similar Ferrari team trucks, all with great detail. The 2015 Scuderia Ferrari truck features driver’s cabin with opening roof and 2 seats for minifigures, detachable trailer with opening roof and sides, lever-operated standing feet and retractable rear hatch/ramp, F1 car launch function, scooter, complete tool set (including a power drill, oil can, screwdriver, wrench, hammer, cross wrench, closed wrench, open wrench and a socket wrench), computer screens, 2 tool chests, trophy, coffee mug and storage space for all accessories. Also, one thing I was very happy to see was that while the vehicles are stickered, the minifigures have actual front and back torso printing – in the past LEGO Ferrari sets always had stickered minifigures due to the licensing agreement. In the video-review below JANGBRiCKS will show you all the features and details of the set, and I agree with him; it’s a pretty authentic and realistic model (besides being a play-set) and looks really good.
➡ #75912 LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS PORSCHE 911 GT FINISH LINE: Race for a podium position in your Porsche 911 GT! Race against your friends and claim a place on the podium with this exciting LEGO Speed Champions play set. Prep the 2 powerful, Porsche 911 GT race cars with the tools in the mini-garage. Attach the unique Porsche 911 wheel trims to make your car look super-sleek and then drive to the start-finish line. Activate the dropping start lights and it’s red, amber, green for go! Capture all the action with the camerawoman as you race to be first past the checkered flag. Then climb up to the podium for the prize-giving ceremony. Accept your trophy and stand proudly as the national flags are raised! Includes 4 minifigures with assorted accessories: 2 Porsche drivers, a camerawoman and a race marshal. 551 pieces. Price: $49.99 – BUY HERE
This is actually my favorite set in the series, because it’s a great starter set. It includes two racecars, and everything needed for the finish line, including 8 stickered interchangeable national flags (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, UK and USA), 2 checkered flags, 1st, 2nd and 3rd position tags, golden trophy, silver-colored trophy, mini-garage with small work station, tool trolley with assorted tools, and a spare wheel with a trolley. Both of the racecars look excellent, and you can always add the other individual racecar sets to this one for more action. Unfortunately the racecars are stickered, but that’s a general complaint about the entire line; way two many stickers. In the video-review below you can see the set in more detail.
➡ #75911 LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS MCLAREN MERCEDES PIT STOP: Make speedy pit stops with McLaren Mercedes! Prep your McLaren Mercedes MP4-29 race car for action with this awesome multi-function LEGO Speed Champions play set. Join the pit crew in the hi-tech garage to work on the car with a complete set of tools, 3-screen computer console and more. Swap the nose of the car, place the driver in the cockpit and activate the launch function to power out of the garage. Fold out the garage walls to create a life-like pit stop setting with a fuel pump and movable wheel guns. But don’t delay too long in the pits–you’ll have to be super-fast to beat your friends’ LEGO Speed Champions cars to win the golden trophy! Includes 3 minifigures with assorted accessories: a driver, male pit crew member and a female pit crew member. 332 pieces. Price: $29.99 – BUY HERE
This is the last of the more expanded LEGO Speed Champion sets, and is also the cheapest. The garage/pit stop structure features fold-out walls for garage or pit stop modes, launch function, 2 spare tires/wheels, fuel pump, computer console with 3 screens, 2 movable wheel guns, tool storage, complete tool set (including a power drill, oil can, screwdriver, wrench, hammer, cross wrench, closed wrench, open wrench and a socket wrench), lap-time board and a golden trophy. I’m not particularly excited about this set, but you can watch the review-video below to come to your own conclusion about it.
➡ LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS RACECAR SETS: Besides the play-sets we talked about above, there are four smaller sets with one racecar with a driver in each. They are the #65899 LEGO Speed Champions LaFerrari, the #75909 LEGO Speed Champions McLaren P1, the #75908 458 Italia GT2, and the #75910 LEGO Porsche 918 Spider. They are all available under the LEGO Speed Champions section of the Online LEGO Shop.
While I do like these little racecars, I feel that LEGO was trying to cram in two many aspects and ended up being pretty good, but not great, at any of them. They attempted to make play-sets for kids. I think they achieved this pretty well with sturdy little minifig-size vehicles that feels good in a kid’s hands. However LEGO ruined the playability with all the stickers – there is no way a 5-year-old can apply these properly, and care for such heavily stickered vehicles during play. LEGO also wanted to make the vehicles realistic for collectors. Little kids don’t care if some of the details don’t match the real cars, but collectors do. However to build model replicas of racecars in such a small scale with the current selection of LEGO elements is just not possible. So LEGO hid the unrealistic angles and other imperfections with stickers – an acceptable solution, but not great. Again, this is just my own opinion, I’m pretty sure a lot of people will like these sets, but there are definitely plusses and minuses that I didn’t want to gloss over. In the video-review playlist below you can see all four racecars in more detail to help you form your own opinion about them.
What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Speed Champions sets? Do you like the vehicles? And do you have a favorite? Are you planning to get any of them? Feel free to share your own thoughts and review in the commend section below! 😉
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