McLaren spent 8344 hours for its spectacular LEGO car
LEGO Group's senior project manager Lukáš Horák has revealed that the company spent 8,344 hours to build the unique, spectacular McLaren car that the Woking-based F1 outfit's British driver Lando Norris took to the Silverstone track.
Lando Norris is used to punching in laps around his home circuit, but this was a unique opportunity in a very different type of car than he’s used to as he took behind the wheel of a McLaren car that has been made from LEGO Technic elements.
The McLaren P1 has been designed and built by the LEGO Group and McLaren Automotive. Made up of 342,817 LEGO Technic elements and a fully electric motor, this is the first LEGO big build capable of steering and driving an entire lap of a racetrack. The car has been built in a four-stage process over 17 days by 82 technicians.
“For us, I must say, it was one of the best projects we have possibly worked on,” says Lukáš Horák, Senior Project Manager in Model Production, LEGO Group. Horák led a 23-person team, comprising specialists from design, engineering and building from the LEGO Group and McLaren Automotive, who spent 8,344 hours on this project.
The drivable LEGO Technic McLaren P1 has been a long time in the making, with discussions initially beginning in the Autumn of 2023 between the two teams before development and construction began in January 2024.
This is LEGO Group’s third drivable car, but it's by far the most sophisticated. None of the others could take on corners, nor could they have coped with the bumps around Silverstone’s track.
The LEGO Technic P1 is built out of 393 different types of LEGO Technic elements, used for the more advanced LEGO models. They’re more versatile and durable than traditional LEGO bricks - but entirely compatible - and can be used to incorporate motors and pneumatic elements.
“There wasn’t any glue involved, all of the bricks are connected, which made it more complicated to build a car that could survive a full lap,” says Lukáš. “I have to say, this model and the technology we developed to connect the bricks survived really well.”
When Horák and his team began the development stage in January, they started by using their 3D software to study the P1 and work out how to replicate the design in LEGO bricks. Meanwhile, the engineers on the project were working alongside McLaren Automotive to produce the car’s steel construction, which would form the basic chassis that the bricks would be built around, and the car’s front and rear axles.
“We have two types of bricks,” Lukáš continues. “So, there is the LEGO Technic core, which is the construction out of the LEGO Technic elements, and then we have the LEGO Technic skin, which is essentially the body of the model.” It’s the LEGO Technic skin - a network of interconnected triangles connected to the interior structure of the model via a network of actuators - that allows Lukáš and his team to recreate the curved shape of the P1. “The LEGO Technic core is firmly connected to a steel construction, and then the skin is connected to that.”
Weighing roughly 1220kg and capable of speeds of up to 50kph, the car is powered by an electric motor consisting of LEGO Technic Function batteries and an electric car battery. Combined with working suspension, brakes, a steering wheel, and the same lights as the real supercar, the P1 can travel further than any other LEGO model.
It doesn’t include a windscreen, however, meaning that Norris enjoyed a “nice little breeze” on his drive of the 5.891km tour of Silverstone, which he described as “Awesome. It was super nice. Thanks, LEGO [Group], for the opportunity, it has been amazing.”
“We asked Lando for his thoughts after he completed his lap and he said that it was just like driving a normal car, which we were quite surprised by,” Lukáš says. “I also asked him if he used the brake at all during the lap and he said no - although we do know they work. He looked really positively surprised, I must say.
“The opportunity to be with McLaren on that iconic circuit and to meet Lando, we are really proud of that and to have accomplished everything without any issues. We’re really grateful for the opportunity.”
