This TLCB writer is not familiar with the 1990s IMSA Championship. He was watching the brilliant BTCC at the time, being a) 7, and b) the wrong side of an ocean. However by all accounts it looked like an awesome race series. Prototypes were run by privateer and manufacturer teams with variety of engines, including BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Jaguar, Mazda, Nissan, Porsche, and Toyota, and they were exceedingly fast machines.

This is one such car, the 1991-’93 Toyota Eagle MKIII, powered by a tiny yet mighty 2.1litre 4-cylinder turbocharged engine, it won 21 of the 27 races it entered, utterly dominating the series.

Such dominance and a financial crisis led to the the end of the IMSA GT Championship in the mid-’90s, but not before Dan Gurney’s Toyota team racked up two Championships.

This incredible replica of the Toyota Eagle MKIII is the work of previous bloggee PROTOTYP. and he’s recreated the championship-winning racing car brilliantly. Built from around 1,000 pieces the engine, suspension, and chassis have all been accurately constructed, whilst the bodywork includes some superbly authentic decals to create the famous livery.

There’s a whole lot more to see, including some stunning photographs of the chassis, suspension and engine detailing, at PROTOTYP.’s Flickr photostream and via the Eurobricks discussion.

No, we’re not sure what this is either, but we like primary colours! Clever building techniques have been used in abundance to create whatever this is, and you can place your guesses at Tammo S.’s photostream by clicking here.

Renault are doing better these days, making a range of boring SUVs and Crossovers that don’t fall apart every second Thursday. However they’re about as interesting a Brothers Brick parts cataloguing evening, and frankly we’d rather walk than drive any of them. Ok, maybe the Twingo‘s alright, but that’s because it’s really a Smart.

Not so this however. It’s called the Renault Diaoul and it comes from the mind of F@bz, which must be a very interesting place indeed. Inventive parts are visible in abundance, including some properly odd wheels and one of the most unique engines we think we’ve ever seen. There’s much more of F@bz’s concept to see on Flickr – click the link above to make the jump, and if you work for Renault maybe take some notes…

Classic Porsche 911s are becoming very cool these days, and few are cooler than the early-’70s RSR, Porsche’s 300bhp Group 4 racing car. Only a handful of RSRs were built and their rarity means that today they command mega prices, but fortunately you can build your own, courtesy of George Pateleon (aka ZetoVince) of Flickr. George has recreated the iconic wide-arch whale-tailed 911 beautifully in both road going and racing car specifications, and he’s even made instructions available too. Head over to George’s Porsche 911 album for the full gallery and the all-important link to building instructions.

This gorgeous vintage racer was found on Flickr today, and not only is it a vintage vehicle itself, it uses some vintage LEGO parts too. The wonderful engine that you can see in these images an inline 4-cylinder built from LEGO’s original 2×2 square pistons that required a brick-built engine block. Newcomer Joe Maruschak has done a stellar job making use of these old parts, even including push-rod operated valves and a Power Functions motor to bring the engine to life. Head to Joe’s ‘Old Race Car’ album on Flickr to see all the photos and a video of the engine in action, and if you’d like to see what a real vintage 4-cylinder engine looks (and sounds) like then click this rather awesome link and turn your sound up!

We like usual cars here at The Lego Car Blog, and they don’t come much more unusual than this.

‘This’ is a 1954 HWM Cadillac, built for amateur racer Tony Page and raced across England in the mid 1950s. Page took the Cadillac engine from his previous racing car, an Allard J2, and fitted it to a chassis and body from Hersham & Walton Motors of London, who built competitive Jaguar-engined sports and Formula 2 cars in the early ’50s.

After racing successfully for a few years Page sold the car, whereupon it raced in New Zealand until 1970 when it disappeared into storage. The car surfaced again in 2012 when it was acquired by a new owner and fully restored.

This gorgeous recreation of the HWM Cadillac comes from Tim Inman of Flickr who has done a stellar job of recreating the one-off classic, complete with a detailed replica of the Cadillac engine that powered the car. There’s more to see of Tim’s excellent build at his photostream – click the link above to make the jump to the full gallery.

You don’t need a billion bricks and a personal connection to the staff here at The Lego Car Blog to see you creation appear on this site. A few well-chosen bricks and excellent presentation are all you need. That and a TLCB Elf to wander onto your page, but they’re normally pretty good at finding models, otherwise they don’t get fed.

We have two small-scale examples to prove the case today, the first being this lovely Town-scale tow truck from previous bloggee de-marco. Great photography and a neat brick-built tow hitch count in its favour and there’s more to see of this and de-marco’s other builds on Flickr at the link.

Today’s second slice of simple building comes from fellow past bloggee Pixeljunkie with his gorgeous Datsun 2000 Roadster. More brilliant presentation is in evidence (and if you’re not sure how to take photos like these take a look here) with the model enhanced by some wonderful period-correct stickers. Head to Pixel’s photostream via the link above to see more of his top-notch build.

Despite the stickers on the doors we’re 99% sure this is not a Honda. Partly because we know our cars (it goes with the job), but mostly because LEGO are yet to partner with Honda (or any Japanese brand for that matter). Still, Michael A‘s ‘GT Racecar’ still looks the business, with Elf-approved racing stripes, a big wing and some tricksy aero. There’s more to see of his sort-of-Honda on Flickr – click the link to make the jump.

As the Volkswagen empire of evil tries to re-brand itself after dieselgate, electric vehicles have charged (hah!) to the front of their strategy. Which is a good thing. If the world’s largest automotive company gets behind EVs, even if they are not the silver bullet for halting global warming that some would have us believe (those batteries have to be made somewhere), we’ll hopefully be a bit further down the path towards a planet that isn’t a burning ball of dust.

Porsche – as one of the newer members of the Volkswagen group – are also in on the electrified action, with the new (and most excellent looking) Taycan, a series of hybrids, and this; the 99X works Formula E entry.

Built by previous bloggee Malte Dorowski this neat and ridiculously complicated recreation of the 99X captures the sci-fi looks of the real Formula E racer perfectly, and there’s more to see of his electric Porsche at his 99X album on Flickr. Click the link to take a look.

*Obligatory title song

LEGO’s 42098 Technic Car Transporter is an interesting looking set. It comes with instructions for a B-Model too, but that hasn’t stopped TLCB Debutant Matthew Terntev from building his own creation solely from the parts found within the set.

Matthew’s C-Model takes the car transporter and sports car from 42098 and turns them into…. well, a car transporter and a sports car. But they really are most excellent.

Both models feature working steering and miniature working piston engines, whilst the truck also includes a sliding ramp to allow the car to load/unload.

See more of Matthew’s build on Flickr via the link above, where you can also find a link to instructions should you own a 42098 set and wish to build Matthew’s alternates for yourself.

The worldwide douchebag that is Coronavirus has so far cancelled the first half of the Formula 1 season, the Isle of Man TT, and postponed the Le Mans 24 Hours. But fear not, because you can recreate the world’s greatest race at home thanks to Lasse Delueran and his superb replica of the Ferrari 488 EVO GTE that competed in the 2018 event. Beautifully accurate (and more than a little complicated), Lasse has released building instructions for his model, plus he’s built a host of other Le Mans racers too, so you can build your very own starting grid. Head to Lasse’s photostream via the first link in the text above to see more of the 488 and to find a link to building instructions, and you can check out his other creations via the second.

Porsche’s 911 RSR racer is easily the most earsplitting racing car that this TLCB Writer has heard. Aston Martin and Corvette V8s, Formula 1 cars,  LMP1 racers, historic V12s… nothing hurts your ears like an RSR. They’re quite a thing to behind then, and LEGO have added their own rather excellent (and significantly quieter) version to the Technic line-up with the 42096 Porsche 911 RSR set.

The real 911 RSR is damaging hearing globally as it races around the world in various international series, including the World Endurance Championship which includes Le Mans, and GT3 racing. Transported by large trailers, we would not want to be inside when an RSR is fires up. Previous bloggee Lucio Switch has decided that his 42096 set deserves a a fitting race transporter too, and as such has built this incredible Technic truck and trailer to match the 42096 Porsche 911 RSR set.

Inside the trailer, which includes a matching livery, are tools and a tyre rack, a parking space for the 911 RSR set, and a six-seat cabin/meeting room for the team. The truck towing the trailer is just as impressive, with a brilliantly detailed six-cylinder engine (above) and interior, working steering, suspension and fifth wheel, and opening doors and hood. It also looks spectacular, as you can see in the beautiful photos here, with Lucio’s stunning presentation and lighting.

There are more images of this phenomenal racing transporter available to view at Lucio’s Flickr album entitled simply ‘US Truck’ – Click the link to make the jump to the complete gallery, and if you haven’t heard the real Porsche 911 RSR on which the 42096 Technic set is based, max your speakers, click here, and then imagine a noise at least a billion times louder.

Eurobricks’ Small Car Contest continues to generate some wonderful creations. One of our favourites is this, thirdwigg‘s excellent LMP (Le Mans Prototype) racing car. Working steering, a miniature functioning V8 engine, removable bodywork, and a surprisingly detailed chassis all feature, and there’s more to see on Flickr via the link above.

Following the rather bleak post earlier today, here’s one featuring an early 1990s racing car painted bright green and sponsored by fizzy-pop, ‘cos we like to be balanced.

It’s a Jordan 191 from 1991, probably the ’90s second most famous Jordan (we won’t link to other one, but if you’re British you’ll know…). The 191 was a moderately successful mid-field runner, powered by a Ford V8, and scoring a few points throughout the season (when points were much harder to get remember, only being awarded to the top six).

This neat Lego replica of the other ’90s Jordan comes from Luciano Delorenzo of Flickr, who has captured the real car complete with fizzy-pop paint-job very well indeed. Head to Luciano’s photostream via the link above to see al the photos, or start Googling if you don’t know the other Jordan to which we’re referring…

It’s time for one of TLCB’s infamous rants! We know you’ve been missing these…

Mission Winnow. “What?” we hear you ask. Exactly. We all asked that when the world’s most famous (read ‘expensive’) Formula 1 team revealed a car emblazoned with a brand that no-one had ever heard of at the start of the 2019 season.

But Ferrari being Ferrari – i.e. having the morals of a Mexican drug cartel – we knew it was worth digging into. If only to find out what the hell a ‘winnow’ is. What it is, according to the press release, is this;

“‘Winnow’ originally referred to the removal of chaff from grain, but it came to be used more broadly to describe the separating out of the unnecessary, the extraction of the good and distinguishing what is true from what is inaccurate or misleading.” Which is so gloriously ironic that we suspect Ferrari might be taking the piss. Because Mission Winnow is a front for selling cigarettes.

Of course Ferrari have long had an association with tobacco, being title-sponsored by Marlboro since the mid-’80s. However when Formula 1 banned tobacco advertising in 2006 after learning that cigarettes may in fact be bad for you, Marlboro’s owners had to find other methods of promoting their cancer-sticks on Ferrari’s racing cars. Cue the ugly barcode thing that appeared on the rear wing or the big white chevron that featured on the engine cover for a number of years, described by doctors as simply ‘subliminal advertising’ for Marlboro.

A public enquiry and probably a quiet word from Bernie Ecclestone saw the barcode dropped after a time, but that hasn’t stopped Marlboro’s owners Philip Morris International and Ferrari continuing to pursue their partnership marketing tobacco to children.

And thus we arrive at the 2019 Scuderia Ferrari SF90, carrying Philip Morris International’s latest “We’re not trying to sell cigarettes, honest” brand message. In fact the Mission Winnow mission statement is so vague and rambling it could have been tweeted by Donald Trump;

“Mission Winnow has a simple goal: drive change by constantly searching for better ways of doing things. And by committing to learning and knowing more, it’s easier to make choices that improve the future for everyone. To make this happen, we’ll get inside the minds of outstanding innovators and change-makers, to see why and how they achieve excellence.” By ‘achieving excellence’, we can only assume they mean Selling More Cigarettes.

Oh yeah, we’re a Lego blog… this superb Technic recreation of Marlboro’s mobile advertising board is the work of Mane of Eurobricks, making their TLCB debut (sorry about the rant Mane!). Looking wonderfully accurate, Mane’s Scuderia Ferrari SF90 includes front and rear suspension, a working V6 engine, steering, and DRS on the rear wing, a removable engine cover and front wing, and brilliantly accurate ‘Mission Winnow’ (amongst other sponsors) decals.

There’s more to see of Mane’s wonderful creation on Eurobricks (where building instructions are also available), plus there’s an extensive image gallery at Bricksafe. Click the links to take a closer look, and then go on Scuderia Ferrari’s social media accounts and tell them to shove Mission Winnow up their arse.

Lock-down is easing here in TLCB’s home nation, but for many of you it’s still very much in force. Plus it’s not like Coronavirus has gone away, so we fully expect it to return, with the world watching on in horror, like a second Trump presidency.

However you guys have been busy during your time indoors, utilising your existing LEGO sets to create new models and maybe bag yourselves an awesome SBrick Plus Pro Pack! We’ve got three blog-worthy competition entries for you today, starting with  David Bersia’s brilliant Formula E racing car, built only from the parts found within the 42093 Technic Chevrolet Corvette.

Being electric the Corvette’s V8 engine naturally makes no appearance here, but Davide’s model does include working steering and a properly good execution of Formula E’s Gen 2 bodywork. Click here to head to Flickr to see more of Davide’s creation, where building instructions and two other Lock-Down B-Model contest entries can also be found.

You don’t need a Technic set to enter TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model competition though, as our next two entrants demonstrate. On the left newcomer 14sandee has redeployed the pieces from the excellent 75895 Speed Champions Porsche 911 Turbo set to create his neat single-seat racer, whilst on the right previous entrant Tomik has used the 40171 Friends Hedgehog to construct, er… a hedgecopter? Points for originality with that one!

There’s more to see of 14sandee’s Porsche 911 Turbo B-Model via the link above, and Tomik’s hedgecopter on Flickr and Eurobricks, where he has published some other ingenious B-Model contest entries too…

It’s the final day of TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition, where you can win an amazing SBrick Plus Pro Pack! An array of B-Model machinery has been posted in the last hours (and there are still a few to go should you wish to enter your own alternate build), the best of which we’ll be sharing today. Before the big guns we’re kicking-off with two of the smaller entries; previous entrant Davide Bersia‘s 10242 Mini Cooper-based racing car and newcomer truckman aka T M‘s Tron-based truck. There’s more to see of each alternate via the links above, and we’ll be back shortly with a lot more…

This funky-looking thing is an LMP2 racer, Le Mans’ second tier racing category. It comes from dls7223685 of Eurobricks and despite its smooth Model Team exterior it’s packed with motorised functionality.

LEGO’s new Control+ bluetooth brick is placed in the centre, allowing the two L drive motors and the steering motor to be operated remotely via a mobile device. Full suspension is also present, with all of that hidden beautifully inside the tastefully stickered bodywork.

There’s more of dls’s ‘Azura LMP2 Racing Car’ to see at the Eurobricks forum, including images of the internal working, and you make the jump to view them by clicking here.

No, not another tenuously linked Trump post* (we said racy orange, not racist orange), rather previous bloggee Zsolt Nagy (aka kodlovag)’s exceedingly orange remote control racer.

Utlising LEGO’s new Control+ bluetooth components, Zsolt’s ‘WTCC Race Car’ features two XL motors to drive the rear wheels and L motor to steer, whilst the front wheels also turn an inline 4-cylinder engine, true to most real-world WTCC racers.

All-wheel suspension plus an opening hood and doors are also included, and there’s more to see of Zsolt’s orange racer at both his ‘WTCC Race Car’ album on Flickr and at the Eurobricks discussion forum – click the links to take a look.

*We suppose it is another one now. Never mind.

The 2020 Formula 1 World Championship has been weird. Months late, races cancelled, double-header races to make up for lost time, but no spectators, the season will probably be remembered more for Coronavirus than anything else. Well, that and Ferrari turning up in what seems to be an FSO Polonez.

Despite the 2020 SF1000 apparently being based on last year’s car and having one of most talented young drivers on the grid, Scuderia Ferrari have been awful. Currently sitting fifth in the standings behind a newly resurgent McLaren (who are finally exiting their own period of woe), and even Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin/Stroll F1/whateverthey’recalledthisweek, with Leclerc in 7th place and multiple World Champion Vettel in 10th. Sheesh*.

The Scuderia Ferrari SF1000 at least looks rather nice, as demonstrated here by Noah_L’s superbly presented Model Team replica, itself an updated version of his recreation of Ferrari’s 2019 Formula 1 car. Give it a really hard push and might even beat the real thing.

There’s more to see of Noah’s excellent creation at his ‘Ferrari SF1000′ album – click the link to take a look, and then sit back and watch Mercedes-Benz AMG dominate the field as usual in today’s British Grand Prix, before they do the same at next week’s er… British Grand Prix. This double-header thing is going to take some getting used to…

*Still, maybe it’s karma for Ferrari’s active participation in the gradual killing of children.