Live at Le Mans, LEGO® Technic(TM) and PEUGEOT win the 24-hour Hypercar Building Challenge (PHOTO)

2023-06-11 12:02:04

Munich / Le Mans (ots) – To celebrate the centenary of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, LEGO® Technic(TM) builders have mastered their biggest challenge yet: They’ve recreated the LEGO® Technic Peugeot 9×8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar at an 11:1 scale.. .in just 24 hours, live at Le Mans.

The LEGO Group’s 12 design, engineering and building experts gave it their all throughout the night: 720 LEGO® Hyper Elementsconsisting of incredible 626,392 LEGO® Technic Elementscountless cups of coffee and only a few pit stops later, it’s done!

The finished model consists of 623 different types of LEGO Technic elements, weighs over 900 kilograms and is a scale replica of the LEGO® Technic model: 5.20 meters long, 2.20 meters wide and 1.36 meters high.

The challenging race against time began the day before yesterday at 7 p.m.: Anthony Drevet, official speaker of Le Mans, gave the starting signal in the PEUGEOT fan zone in the heart of the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe. Visitors could experience live how the model was assembled piece by piece by the twelve LEGO construction experts.

It typically takes a team of eight people more than five months to build a LEGO Technic model of this size. The team at Le Mans has surpassed itself in just 24 hours! To make the challenge even possible, the team pre-designed LEGO® Hyper Elements – scaled-up versions of regular LEGO Technic elements made up of hundreds of LEGO® bricks – and used them for the first time at Le Mans. The Challenge was developed as part of the unique collaboration between the LEGO Group and PEUGEOT; the PEUGEOT Elite Hypercar design team worked closely with the LEGO Technic experts on the conception.

“Our designers are always up for a challenge, but building this particular model pushed them to their limits.”so Joanna Katharina Lazar, Vice President Global Product and Marketing Development at The LEGO Group. “It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience to watch the designers at Le Mans as they creatively build this impressive structure and to hear the cheers from the crowd. And the challenge shows that with LEGO Technic and a little imagination, you really can build anything.”.

Linda Jackson, CEO of PEUGEOT says about the cooperation and the challenge: “We have worked closely with the LEGO Technic team on the development of the PEUGEOT 9X8 and are delighted that it is available to fans around the world. This weekend, here at Le Mans, the large scale model of the LEGO Technic PEUGEOT 9X8 was unveiled of our race car to life! It was a great idea to have this challenge happen within 24 hours and very exciting to see how the team took on this challenge.”.

Not far from the challenge, which took place in the PEUGEOT Fanzone in the Le Mans Fan Village, visitors can also discover the LEGO® Pop Up Store and much more. In the Experience Zone in the Fan Village, motorsport enthusiasts can put their building and construction skills to the test with self-built cars made from LEGO bricks and test their skills on a race track. In addition, special LEGO models can be admired that local AFOLS (Adult Fans of LEGO) have assembled and exhibited. LEGO® sets signed by LEGO designer Aurélien Rouffiange can be won in various competitions.

Notes for editors: You can download images of the Hyper Construction Challenge here: www.legonewsroom.de.

Information about the LEGO® Technic PEUGEOT 9X8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar replica:

Number of LEGO Technic elements: 626.392
Number of LEGO Hyper elements: 720
Dimensions: 5.20 meters long, 2.20 meters wide and 1.36 meters high
Weight: over 900 kilograms
Scale: 11:1

Product information about the LEGO® Technic PEUGEOT 9X8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar Set (42156):

Number of elements: 1.775
Retail price: $199.99 | CHF 219.00
Age recommendation: from 18 years
Dimensions: Length 50cm, height 13cm, width 22cm
Details: Extravagant silhouette, gullwing doors, lime-colored front lights that glow in the dark, V6 engine, an electric 7-speed gearbox and the low-emission hybrid drive system are all reproduced.

More information and images for LEGO® Technic PEUGEOT 9X8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar Set can be found at www.legonewsroom.de. It’s in LEGO Stores, online at www.lego.com and available through the PEUGEOT dealer network.