Le Mans winning Fords immortalised in LEGO
LEGO has added the iconic Ford GT40 and new Ford GT that - both won Le Mans 24 Hours in 1966 and 2016 - to their range.
Brought to life in bricks, the new ‘Speed Champions’ set will include both cars as well as racing driver minifigures, a chequered flag and even a trophy to make it easy to recreate those history-making victories.
“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.”
Ford won at Le Mans earlier this year after returning to the scene of what was a historic 1-2-3 clean sweep 50 years previously. The LEGO Group worked closely with Ford’s design and licensing teams on every detail of the 1966 winning car, and the new Ford GT race car.
“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,” said Craig Callum, head of design, LEGO Speed Champions. “Designed for children, but with grown-ups fans in mind too, we know these models will be closely scrutinised for authenticity.”
Callum, who in his spare time races a Ford Model A hot-rod, and started out as a designer of full-sized cars, helped develop ten prototypes before the final versions of each model were selected, all created from existing LEGO bricks.
The new 2016 Ford GT and 1966 Ford GT40 set will be available to order at LEGO.com/shop from March 1, 2017 with a recommended retail price of £29.99.