The LEGO Group and McLaren Automotive have embarked on the toughest LEGO Technic challenge to date, recreating a one-of-a-kind, fully drivable McLaren P1™ made from LEGO Technic elements. And if that wasn’t enough, McLaren F1™ driver, Lando Norris has been enlisted for the ultimate challenge, to complete a lap of the iconic British racetrack, Silverstone, in the 1:1 scale LEGO Technic McLaren P1.
This life-size replica of the McLaren P1™ is made from 342,817 LEGO Technic elements, weighing approximately 1220kg, with some truly remarkable displays of engineering. The car has fully functional steering, making it the first LEGO big build ever capable of steering and taking on tricky racetrack corners. The build features an electric motor consisting of LEGO Technic Function batteries and an electric car battery, allowing it to travel further than any other LEGO model before it.
The big build process came to life with 23 specialists from design, engineering and building from the LEGO group and McLaren Automotive, with 8,344 hours of development and construction and requiring 393 different types of LEGO Technic elements.
With the car assembled, all that was left to do was to embark on the ultimate challenge, and with it being a McLaren supercar replica, who better to get behind the wheel than McLaren F1™ Driver, Lando Norris. The British driver was more than up to the task, taking on the twist and turns of the 5.891km (3.66 miles) track and completing the lap around the Silverstone Circuit. With the enormity of this challenge, Silverstone was the perfect setting given McLaren’s rich history with the home of British racing.
“Having worked on the original P1 programme for McLaren, it’s amazing to see so many of the elements from the original McLaren P1™ brought to life so realistically by the LEGO Technic team for the full-scale model. The car was an icon of its time. I hope that through this collaboration with the LEGO Group, we are able to inspire the next generation of designers and engineers to push the boundaries of automotive innovation.” Ben Gulliver, Test & Development Director, McLaren Automotive.
“This project marks the latest in a long list of collaborations between the LEGO Group and McLaren, bringing together McLaren engineers and the LEGO Model Production team from conception all the way to the final build.
McLaren’s automotive and engineering expertise has been invaluable in helping us produce a model as authentic to the original McLaren P1™ as possible, allowing us to turn a dream into a reality. It was incredibly cool to see McLaren F1™ driver, Lando Norris driving the car we created.” Lukáš Horák, Senior Project Manager in Model Production, LEGO Group.
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McLaren P1™ 42172 | Technic | Buy online at the Official LEGO® Shop GB
The LEGO Technic McLaren P1™ 1:8 set is available at www.LEGO.com/McLaren and LEGO Stores priced at £389.99 / €449.99 / $449.99.
McLaren Automotive is a producer of ultra high-performance, lightweight supercars. Launched in 2010, the company is now the largest part of the McLaren Group.
Headquartered at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Woking, Surrey, England, McLaren Automotive is driven by the challenge of creating the world’s most exhilarating, engaging and benchmark setting vehicles. Leveraging the McLaren name’s 60-year history of authentic, racing performance, it has delivered some of the most spectacular supercars ever made.
The company’s product portfolio of GTS, supercar, Motorsport and Ultimate models are retailed in over 40 markets around the world. Its cars are assembled by hand at the McLaren Production Centre (MPC), based on the same campus as MTC in Woking.
McLaren is a pioneer that continuously pushes the boundaries. In 1981, it introduced lightweight and strong carbon fibre chassis technology into Formula 1 with the McLaren MP4/1.
Then in 1993 it designed and built the legendary McLaren F1 road car. Built around a carbon fibre chassis, it established McLaren’s supercar DNA, realised for the 21st century in 2011 with the introduction of the McLaren 12C – McLaren Automotive’s first production car.
McLaren was the first to deliver a hybrid hypercar, the McLaren P1™, in 2013. Launching the Ultimate Series of vehicles, P1™ was followed by the McLaren Senna in 2018 and its track-only GTR derivative followed a year later. 2019 also saw the introduction of the Speedtail hybrid hyper-GT. Its most recent Ultimate model, Elva, is the lightest McLaren road car ever.
McLaren’s LT models represent the ultimate expression of track performance in series production supercars. The name stems from the ‘Longtail’ version of the F1 GTR, introduced in 1997, and was incorporated into McLaren Automotive nomenclature in 2015 with the arrival of the McLaren 650S-based 675LT coupe and Spider. In 2018, the LT legend continued with the McLaren 570S-based 600LT. The latest chapter in the LT story was written in 2020 and 2021, with the introduction of the 765LT coupe and Spider.
Also in 2021, the company unveiled its all-new high-performance hybrid supercar, the McLaren Artura. The Artura is the first McLaren to benefit from the McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA). The MCLA is designed, developed and manufactured at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre in the Sheffield region of England using world-first processes and will spearhead the brand’s electrified future.
2022 saw McLaren announce the Solus GT, a single-seat, closed-cockpit track car which brought to life a futuristic concept that was originally created for virtual gaming.
In 2023, McLaren unveiled its lightest and most powerful series-production supercar, the 750S – a thorough development of the award-winning 720S supercar. McLaren also introduced the new GTS, replacing the McLaren GT.
The McLaren Artura Spider was revealed in early 2024 as the brand’s first high-performance hybrid convertible. Its introduction was part of a major model year uplift for the Artura nameplate, and meant McLaren’s series-production line-up of GTS, new Artura and 750S had been introduced within 12 months of each other.
McLaren Automotive also chooses to partner with like-minded, world-leading companies and organisations who push the boundaries in their respective fields. These include Ashurst, Bowers & Wilkins, Dynisma, Gulf, Monroe, Pirelli, Plan International, Richard Mille and Tumi.
