To celebrate its new Technic Koenigsegg Sadair’s Spear set, LEGO built a real-life version of it out of nearly 328,000 LEGO Technic elements and had Koenigsegg test driver Markus Lundh take it out for a spin at the Goodwood hillclimb circuit. Obviously designed as a publicity stunt, the unique event also set a new record for the world’s fastest LEGO car, more than doubling the previous record (50 km/h).
The life-size Sadair’s Spear is nothing short of a technical wonder. It took a team of LEGO builders no less than 9,400 hours to put together and turned out so incredibly realistic that, in motion, it reads as a real Koenigsegg rather than a plastic brick sculpture.
“This was the most complex build in the least amount of time of all the Lego Technic cars,” LEGO’s design lead Lubor Zelinka told Top Gear. “The brief called for a Lego Technic vehicle that could go very fast, so we set a target of 100kph (62mph). We started talking about it last summer, but we didn’t really begin work until October. The whole project was seven and a half months. The other ask was to incorporate Koenigsegg’s famous Ghost Mode, so this is the first time we have had so many opening body panels on a full-size build. It’s not just a model anymore, it’s a vehicle.”
The entire car weighs about 1,800 kilograms (4,000 pounds), 400 kilograms (881 pounds) of which are plastic LEGO elements. Underneath the intricate LEGO body are a bespoke metal chassis, an FIA-spec roll cage, Koenigsegg carbon wheels, and a proper suspension system. Unlike the real Sadair’s Spear, the LEGO vehicle is powered by a small electric motor that proved powerful enough to push the car to 111 km/h.
“Our ambition was to create the most advanced LEGO Technic build we’ve ever produced. This set really embodies the philosophy of LEGO Technic, Build For Real,” senior model designer Kasper Rene Hansen told Autonext.
