Renault/LEGO team up for a life-sized R.S.17 F1 racer
Scientists will tell you matter is constructed of atoms. But every child (and the brighter adults) will tell you pure joy is constructed almost entirely of LEGO. Even more so when it comes in the guise of Renault’s R.S.17 F1 racer.
The life-sized result of the playdate between the iconic toy company and the global automaker was installed in L’Atelier Renault, on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, on the 30th of November 2017. Comprising more than 600,000 LEGO pieces, this 5.4 meter-long construction also incorporates a steering wheel, bucket seat and Pirelli tyres on loan from from the original.
While Renault has been reticent concerning details of its construction, previous attempts at recreating life-sized models of formula one racers have taken between 750 and 2000 man hours to build. (With the understanding than “man” refers, in fact, to teams of dedicated men and women in touch with their inner child.) Those models were known to weigh between 560kg and 3 tons (in the case of Disney’s Lightning McQueen, who deserves an honourable mention). This is not too far off the mark when one considers the real R.S.17 weighs in at 728kg.
As per L’Atelier Renault’s General Manager, Patrice Baheux, the F1 team’s motto of “making the impossible possible” has been given flesh (literally) by LEGO. “For many people, Formula 1 is a dream world to which they can only get close thanks to television coverage of races […] LEGO, a brand familiar to all, has given us an opportunity to open the doors to the exceptional world of F1.”
Certainly, after seeing the R.S.17 LEGO in all its glory, there is a blockish part of the heart that goes thump!
Where to next? The list of phenomenal things done with LEGO includes the construction of a fully functional 3D printer as well as an (honest-to-betsy) air powered hot-rod. One wonders whether LEGO might not have designs on the automaker arena themselves. Perhaps there really IS a Renault LEGO on the horizon.
However, since it seems doubtful whether the toymaker can match the V-6 turbocharged engine of the R.S.17 any time soon (at least, without the intervention of a blue fairy) the roads still belong to Renault. And they can belong to you too. Book a test drive today and experience art … imitating LEGO … imitating Renault.
