Luca Rusconi (aka RoscoPC) is no stranger to this website. His various incredible historic Formula 1 racing cars have appeared here numerous times over the years and have earned him a TLCB Master MOCer accolade, and his latest build takes his Lego-building even further. This is a 1976 Tyrrell P34, it really did look like this, and it became the only six-wheeled design ever to win a Formula 1 race.

It’s those amazing wheels we’ll start with, designed to minimise the car’s frontal area whilst increasing grip. Luca’s spellbinding recreation of the P34 uses four Technic tyres up front (with some wonderful ‘Goodyear’ decals), but the 1:5 scale meant that unlike his previous P34 build, no suitable rear tyres were available in LEGO’s range. Luca’s solution was to create his own, using hundreds of 2×1 Technic rubber lift-arms, and the result is superb.

The larger scale also allows for greater technical – as well as visual – realism, with Luca’s latest model featuring remote control drive and steering for the first time. A third-party BuWizz bluetooth battery powers an XL drive motor, M steering motor, and a Servo that shifts the four-speed gearbox (with both the steering wheel and gear-lever moving when the motors operate). All four front wheels are suspended as well as steered and a beautifully replicated Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 engine, complete with air intake cones and radiators, sits behind the cockpit.

The build is completed with an accurate livery including period-correct decals, making Luca’s amazing Tyrrell P34 very probably the finest Lego Formula 1 car we’ve featured yet. There’s plenty more to see, including further images and a full build description, at the Eurobricks forum. Click here to view all of the photos and join the discussion, here to read Luca’s TLCB Master MOCers interview, and here to read our review of the BuWizz brick that powers this spectacular creation.

Apple weren’t always the tech giant that they are today. Back in 1980 at the dawn of the home computer era, and for the next 25 years, they were a small nerdy company making nerdy things for nerdy people.

However Apple did manage to break free form their nerdiness briefly with their sponsorship of the Porsche 935 K3 racing car run by actor Paul Newman at the 1980 Le Mans 24 Hours, which (perhaps unintentionally) practically writes its own to pork and apple puns.

This wonderful homage to the forgotten Apple Computers Porsche 935 K3 comes from serial bloggee Simon Przepiorka, who has captured both the car and its rainbow livery brilliantly in Speed Champions style.

Both Porsche and Apple have gone on to much bigger things since 1980, one almost pioneering the sports-car-turned-SUV craze (boo) and the other managing to sell basically the same phone for ten years at increasingly ludicrous prices (also boo).

We’ll stick with Apple and Porsche c1980 then, and you can too via the link above.

Despite a politically strained relationship at present, the United Kingdom and the Unites States of America can achieve great things when they work together. Here are two of the greatest, the magnificent Ford GT40 and AC Cobra.

Both cars were designed in the UK, but powered (and funded by) Ford USA, and both dominated racing in the 1960s. These two brilliant Speed Champions style models of the Gulf Racing GT40 and Cobra 289 are the work of previous bloggee Jonathan Elliott who has captured each car beautifully.

There’s more to see of each build at Jonathan’s photostream – click the links above to take a look at the complete image galleries for both cars.

We have a contender for Creation of the Year today. This utterly bewitching Lotus 49 is the work of Flickr’s Pixeljunkie who has not only recreated one of the greatest racing cars ever designed in spellbinding beauty, the model’s presentation is absolute perfection.

Pixel’s gorgeous model includes spectacular suspension, engine and gearbox detail and a superbly replicated ’67 Team Lotus livery complete with authentic logos and badging. It’s an incredible piece of work and you can see the images shown here in more detail via the link above, plus you read more about how the real car became one of racing all-time greats by clicking here.

This beautiful racing car is a Renault Alpine A442, built by Renault-owned Alpine in the mid-1970s and powered by a tiny Renault 2 litre turbocharged V6 with one aim; win Le Mans. First entered in 1976 the team won on their third attempt in ’78, an all-French victory at the country’s most prestigious racing event.

This incredible replica of the race-winning Alpine comes from Jerac of Flickr, who has recently re-photographed his model on a new glass background creating the brilliant mirror presentation you see in the images here. Accurate decals complete the realism and you can see more of Jerac’s astonishing build at his photostream.

Jerac’s phenomenal presentation is aided by his superb glass background, but you don’t have to use one to showcase your creations beautifully. Check out some hints on how to best present your models with just natural light and a sheet of card by clicking here.

It’s time for something rather special here at The Lego Car Blog; this is Bricksonwheels’ phenomenal Lancia Martini Historic Rally Team, formed of a a ’92 Lancia Delta Integrale Evo, an ’85 Lancia 037, and – proving Martini’s racing livery can make literally anything cool – a Fiat Ducato van, complete with tools, spares, and equipment. And each is amongst the finest examples of Lego model-making that you will ever see.

With expertly recreated liveries courtesy of fellow previous bloggee JaapTechnic, Bricksonwheel‘s creations are near perfect replicas of the stars of Lancia’s greatest era. And a Fiat van, but that’s a near perfect replica too.

Each model is built from around 2,000 pieces and includes fully detailed suspension, engine and interior, with every aspect constructed with mind-bending attention to detail.

There’s much more to see at Bricksonwheels’ Lancia Martini Historic Rally Team album on Flickr by clicking the link above, you can see the Delta Integrale’s individual appearance here at TLCB last year by clicking these words, and you can read Bricksonwheels’ interview as part of the Master Mocer Series by clicking here to learn how he creates amazing models like these.

This is a 1949 Chevrolet 3100 Bj (snigger…) pick-up truck, and it has been recreated beautifully in Sunoco racing colours thanks to Peter Schmid  of Flickr. Subtlety was the key word in historic liveries, with just some discreet door emblems and tailgate lettering denoting the Chevy’s owners, and it’s all the better for that. Head to Peter’s photostream via the link above to check it out.

On every flight there’s always one. That lady or gentleman who – when booze is marginally cheaper courtesy of airport tax free shopping – decides to optimise this saving. “I’ll just get a few bottles to take home” they say. Sure they will. Those bottles will be empty before they’ve even boarded. Anyway, this post is for them – and to that one guy who tries to smoke in the airplane toilet – as these models are literally encouraging drinking/smoking and flying.

With most countries doing what Formula 1 wouldn’t (because F1 is all about the monies), and banning alcohol and cigarette sponsorship in sport, alcoholic beverage and cigarette companies are no longer seen on the side of Formula 1 cars.

But there are no rules in space…

This is Formula Zero Gravity, an invention by British Lego Group Brickish, and they’re single-handedly bringing morally-dubious sponsorship back to top level racing! Two of motorsport’s greatest liveries have made the return so far (with more to come), with Nick Barrett’s stupendous Martini Racing F0 racer above, and Jeremy Williams’ gorgeous John Player Special F0 racer below.

There’s more to see of Nick’s build at both his MOCpage and photostream, and you can view Jeremy’s courtesy of Flickr here. Enjoy your flight!

It’s not often that TLCB Team are stunned by a model brought back by one of our smelly little workers. We are of course experienced professionals, experts in Lego creations, and with a wealth of building talent ourselves. Oh, sorry – that’s the Brothers Brick – we’re still as incompetent as ever, but nevertheless it takes a lot to genuinely excite us, so blasé have we become through years of blogging. Today however, we are all spectacularly impressed, thanks to All.About.Lego and his amazing Technic Lancia Fulvia HF rally car.

Built for the current Eurobricks small car contest, this incredible recreation of one of rallying’s all-time-greats not only looks absolutely wonderful (and superbly accurate, despite being the difficulty of being a Technic build), it features more working functionality than models five times its size. So much in fact, that this tiny Lancia really is a Technic ‘Supercar’.

A working V4 engine is driven by the front-wheels (yup, the fronts, as per the real Fulvia and we have no idea how All.About.Lego has managed it), whilst a rear-mounted gearbox (technically a two-speed transaxle) can be controlled via the cabin gearstick.

Working leaf-spring suspension and functioning steering feature too, completing the Technic ‘Supercar’ necessities, plus the model features opening doors, hood and trunk, as well as an accurate period livery complete with superbly replicated decals.

It’s a phenomenal build and one that will start a riot here in TLCB office if it doesn’t win the Eurobricks Small Car Contest. Head to Flickr or the Eurobricks forum to see more of All.About.Lego’s spellbinding creation and LEGO, make this a set please! We’ll buy eight.

Rallying was big business in the 1980s. With few rules making for wild cars, the WRC attracted as much attention as Formula 1, and Porsche wanted a piece of it, despite the unlikely suitability of their road-going products. Of course Porsche had a plan; their incredible all-wheel-drive 959, which would have been ideally placed for the WRC’s top-tier Group B once it was finished.

Unfortunately for Porsche the banning of Group B meant the 959 never got the chance to properly compete (although this did mean that the car raced in Paris-Dakar instead, becoming one of the most wonderful and weird winners in the event’s history), but before then Porsche still wanted a rally car whilst the 959 was in development. Cue the 911 with a giant wing on the back.

The 911 of the 1980s was of course only rear-wheel-drive though, meaning that the SC/RS version homologated for rallying stood very little chance against the all-wheel-drove competition in the WRC, but it was still a quick car. Switching to the lower-spec European Rally Championship proved smart, where Porsche’s stop-gap rally car was prepared by Prodrive and took several wins.

These two spectacular recreations of the Porsche 911 SC/RS come from TLCB Master MOCer Dennis Glaasker aka Bricksonwheels, who has faithfully recreated the ’80s icon in astounding detail. Each 1:14 scale model replicates a real version of the 911 rally car, with the famous Rothmans and Belga team liveries brought to life in incredible realism thanks to fellow previous bloggee JaapTechnic’s decal-producing wizardry.

Opening doors and engine covers reveal an interior and engine as beautifully recreated as the stunning exteriors, and there’s loads more to see of both 911 SC/RS models at Dennis’ ‘Porsche 911 SC/RS in Lego (1:14)’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to head to a forest in Belgium sometime in the 1980s.

Renualt’s humble 5 was a shopping-car favourite in the 1980s. And a joke by the 1990s. Now that most have been thrown away though, they are properly cool. Particularly in ‘Turbo’ flavour, from back when a whole model could simply be called ‘Turbo’ and nothing else, as it was clearly the most important bit.

Cue Darren Thew’s wonderful Renault 5 Turbo rally car, in tarmac ‘Tour de Corse’ specification, and sporting some fantastically accurate decals (which the Elves seem to really like too for some reason).

Blending Technic and System parts beautifully, Darren’s Renault 5 includes a detailed interior, complete with roll cage and harnesses, plus a highly accurate dashboard and controls, whilst under the opening hood is superb replica of the 5’s four-cylinder engine, including the famed forced-induction component that the whole car was named after.

It’s a brilliant build and one that’s definitely worth a closer look. Spool up your turbo and head to Corsica in the 1980s by clicking these words, plus here’s a bonus link of the real Renault 5 Turbo Tour de Corse winner in action.

It’s not often that The Lego Car Blog Elves are enthusiastic about a Lego model, beyond it resulting in a meal token. Today however, they’re beyond excited, as – in their minds – their ancestors sponsored the 1985 Lotus 97/T that gave Ayrton Senna his debut win.

What with it being the ’80s, John Player Special cigarettes did too – and it’s debatable which is worse for your health – but nevertheless that JPS gold-on-black livery sure does look cool.

This spectacular replica of the race-winning Lotus is the work of recent bloggee Robson M, whose other cigarette-sponsored Formula 1 car, also driven by Ayron Senna, appeared here earlier in the month.

A stunning recreation of the Elf/JPS livery, perfect presentation, and some rather clever building techniques make Robson’s Lotus 97/T well worth a closer look, and you can jump to 1985 via the link above, along with a bunch of excited TLCB Elves.

As occasionally we do here at The Lego Car Blog, today’s post is a lament of Lancia.

One of the most innovative, technically advanced, and motorsport-winning car companies in history, Lancia have created some of the all-time great automobiles. Yet today they make only this. Which is probably worse than if they made nothing at all.

We’re heading back to the 1970s then, when Lancia made a whole range of wonderful (if poorly rust protected) cars, and this; the incredible Stratos HF.

Designed by Bertone (who pitched it to Lancia by just turning up and driving it underneath the security barrier), the Stratos was a mid-engined sports car designed for rallying. And rally it did, winning the World Championship three years in a row from ’74 to ’76. And unlike every other Lancia it couldn’t rust, being made from fibreglass.

Equally glorious (and rust-proof) is this spectacular replica of the Alitalia-liveried Stratos rally car, recreated brilliantly by Biczzz of Flickr. Beautifully-built bodywork, superbly accurate decals, and a replica Ferrari V6 ‘Dino’ engine underneath a removable rear clamshell make this a fine homage to Lancia’s glory years, and there more to see – including a lime green road-car version – at Biczzz’s ‘Lancia Stratos’ album.

Click the link above to go rallying in the mid-’70s, when Lancia were on top of the world.

‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, the Toyota Corolla, and the Monaco Grand Prix. All simultaneously the greatest examples of their respective genres, and also the most boring.

But Formula 1 in Monaco wasn’t always a procession. Before the cars were the size of school buses, which these days makes overtaking impossible, Monaco could put quite a show.

Back in 1988, even with the complete dominance of the McLaren-Honda MP4/4, the ’88 Monaco Grand Prix delivered. Twenty-six cars started – two of which were even called ‘Megatron’ (seriously, look it up!) – just ten finished, and Ayrton Senna was the class of the field.

Out-qualifying his team-mate Alain Prost by a staggering 1.4 seconds, Senna led the race by almost a minute… until he didn’t. A momentary lapse of concentration eleven from the finish and he hit the wall, whereupon he exited his broken McLaren and walked home.

Prost took the win (his forth and final Monaco GP victory), followed by Gerhard Berger’s Ferrari some twenty seconds back. Which means there’s perhaps some artistic license with the cars’ proximity in alex_bricks‘ stunning 1988 Monaco Grand Prix vignette, but in every other respect this is a spectacularly realistic homage to the Monte Carlo street race.

Recreating the circuit as it was in the late-’80s required Alex to watch old race footage (which is surely some of the most fun research required to build a Lego model), matching his brick-built version of the Mediterranean Principality to the televised imagery from the time.

The result is a replica of the streets of Monaco as they were in 1988 so prefect we can practically hear the noise from the Formula 1 cars bouncing off the walls of the buildings, with Alex displaying his incredible build at the Brickfair show earlier in the year.

Fortunately he’s uploaded a few images to Flickr too, so you can join TLCB Team immersing themselves in Monaco in 1988 via his photostream. Click the link above to head the greatest race on the Formula 1 calendar, long before it was boring.

This is the unmistakable shape of the Lancia Stratos, designed by Bertone and powered by a Ferrari Dino V6, it was the first car purpose-built for rallying, winning the World Rally Championship three times consecutively between 1974 and 1976.

This lovely diorama by Flickr’s alex_bricks, who appeared here recently with his stunning 1988 Monaco Grand Prix scene, depicts a works Alitalia-liveried Stratos scything through a muddy forest.

Forced-perspective foliage and an array of mini-figures – including a driver and co-driver and some hardy spectators – add to the ambiance, and you can join them trackside c1975 via the link in the text above.

Once the world’s fastest production car, and winner of the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours, this is the McLaren F1 GTR.

Following its victory at Le Mans (the first time either a manufacturer or team had won the race on their Le Mans debut), McLaren’s Ron Dennis and businessman Kazumichi Goh decided to take the car to Japan, forming McLaren Team Lark, and taking on the country’s domestic teams in the newly formed GT500 championship.

The Lark McLaren F1 GTRs were dominant, comfortably beating domestic rivals from Nissan, Toyota and Honda to win every GT500 race in 1996 bar one.

So dominant was the F1 GTR in fact, that the organisers effectively legislated it out of the championship, imposing so many restrictions on the team that they withdrew before the start of the ’97 season.

The result, after that single all-conquering year, was that the rest of the GT500 teams considerably upped their game. GT500 cars became much faster, more exciting, and more technologically-advanced, and thus the ongoing success of the GT500 Championship has more than a little to do with a little British car that entered for just one season some three decades ago.

This wonderful homage to the short-lived but spectacular Team Lark McLaren F1 GTRs comes from TLCB debutant brickengineeringdude, who has recreated the ’96 championship-winning racer brilliantly in brick form. 3D-Printed wheels, tyres decals, and a superb approximation of the Team Lark livery make brick’s F1 GTR instantly recognisable, and there’s much more to see at their photostream via the link.

But what of Team Lark and GT500? Well owner Kazumichi Goh went on to buy an Audi R8, and with it won the 2004 Le Mans 24 Hours, becoming only the second Japanese team to win the race outright. Meanwhile Japan’s GT500 championship has gone from strength to strength, but has never again been won by a non-Japanese car since the Team Lark McLarens of 1996…

This incredibly low – and incredible orange – car is a 1972 McLaren M20, one of the stars of the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (or Can-Am) racing series that ran from 1966 to 1974. With no limit on engine size (in fact, with few regulations at all of any kind), Can-Am became an almost unrestricted racing series, with the cars even out-performing Formula 1.

The results were wild, often using the largest engines available (usually Chevrolet), and with many drivers coming from Formula 1 and Le Mans, including a few that would become champions of each.

McLaren won the series five times, with Bruce McLaren himself taking the driver’s crown twice. The M20 didn’t make it a sixth Can-Am championship for the British team however, as its 1972 debut coincided with the arrival of Porsche’s monstrous 917, powered by a 900bhp flat-12 that was rumoured to make up to 1,500bhp in qualifying trim.

The M20 still took two wins during the 1972 season however, finishing a distant second in the championship behind the Penske-Porsche, before McLaren left the series as a works-team to focus on Formula 1.

This spectacular Model Team recreation of the final McLaren Can-Am racer comes from Luciano Delorenzo, who has captured the M20 brilliantly in brick-form. The accurate bodywork includes authentic decals, there’s working steering, and a highly detailed replica of the 8.3 litre Chevrolet V8 is fitted underneath the removable rear section.

There’s more of the model to see at Luciano’s ‘1972 McLaren M20’ album on Flickr, and you can jump back to the mightiest racing series there’ll probably ever be via the link in the text above.

It might be Ferrari and Toyota at the top of endurance racing right now, but there’s one manufacturer that has dominated Le Mans more than any other; Porsche.

Winning the Le Mans 24 Hours on nineteen occasions, the first of Porsche’s victories came in 1970 thanks to this; the magnificent 917K.

Powered by a wild flat-12, the 917 debuted in 1969, where it was… rubbish. Dodgy aerodynamics (which were still largely experimental at the time) made the car terrifying to drive at high speed, but Porsche refined the car, chopping the tail off and later fitting it with two stabilising fins and a magnesium chassis.

The result was the most dominant one-two in Le Mans history, when in 1971 both 917Ks finished some thirty laps ahead of the third place Ferrari.

This spectacular Speed Champions recreation of the ’71 race winning car, complete with its iconic Martini Racing livery, comes from previous bloggee SFH_Bricks of Flickr, who has captured the 917K absolutely beautifully in brick form.

Building instructions are available and there are more stunning images to view at SFH’s photostream. Click the link above to take a look, and wait thirty laps for the Ferrari to catch up.

Lancia’s magnificent mid-engined Stratos is one of World Rallying’s most famous cars, winning the Championship three years in a row from 1974 to ’76.

But less well known is that the Stratos lived beyond its World Rally Championship success, becoming a turbocharged silhouette circuit racer in the wild late-’70s Group 5 ‘Special Production Car’ era.

Only the hood, roof, and doors had to remain production spec, leading to some pretty loose interpretations of ‘Production Car’, with Lancia’s Group 5 entry no different.

Created by Alan Guerzoni, this homage to the Group 5 Stratos Turbo captures its bizarre aesthetic brilliantly, with custom decals (including obligatory ’70s cigarette marketing) and 3D-printed wheels adding to the accuracy. Head to a circuit c1976 and hold on tight.

Matra. The greatest car manufacturer most have never heard of. Formula 1 World Champions, three-time Le Mans Winners, and creators of hugely influential production-car successes like this, segment-pioneering inventions like this, and colossal failures like this.

That last one bankrupted the company, which disappeared forever in 2003, so we’ll jump back to 1972 when Matra where on top of not just their game, but everyone else’s, taking the first of three Le Mans wins in a row.

They did so with this, the wild Matra Simca MS670, which won the race by eleven laps in the hands Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill, with another MS670 in second. This superb Speed Champions recreation of Matra’s ’72 endurance racer is the work of SFH_Bricks of Flickr, who has added it to his ever-growing roster of Le Mans cars.

Authentic decals and fantastic presentation make SFH’s MS670 a worthy homage to the oft-forgotten champions, and you can take a closer look at his brilliant build via the link above.