In 1966 Ford went to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and notched an improbable 1-2-3 victory. Fifty years later, the company brought the new, EcoBoost-powered Ford GT to the historic race and won again. These race wins are certainly worth celebrating, and what better way to do so than to build toy replicas. That’s exactly what Lego did for its Speed Champions series.
The new LEGO Speed Champions set includes the ’66 and ’16 Ford GTs plus racing driver minifigures, a checkered flag and even a trophy.
“Many people in my team grew up with the legend of Ford’s history-making 1966 victory—and experienced the excitement of building and design for the first time through LEGO bricks,” said Dave Pericak, global director, Ford Performance. “This kit is a powerful way to tell our Le Mans story, and will hopefully inspire the race drivers, engineers, and designers of the future.”
To help make this happen Ford’s design team worked closely with the Lego group to recreate the cars as faithfully as possible. Craig Callum, head of design, LEGO Speed Champions, developed 10 prototypes before the final models were approved.
Who doesn’t want to stop what they are doing and build a 1966 and 2016 Ford GT right now? You’ll have to wait though. The kit goes on sale March 1, 2017.
“This was a dream project—with a lot of pressure. The Ford GT40 is one of the most iconic race cars of all time, and the new Ford GT is just incredible,” Craig said. “Designed for children, but with grown-ups fans in mind too, we know these models will be closely scrutinized for authenticity.”
These kits will be available on the Lego website beginning on March 1, 2017, but if you have the itch to build a new Lego Ford, there are Mustang, F-150 Raptor and Model A hot rods available right not.
The Lego team had firsthand experience with this year’s Le Mans victory.