Amid Ferrari's triumph at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend, a team of Lego 'master builders' set to work building a life-sized version of the Lego Peugeot 9X8 hypercar. Spectators at the Sarthe circuit could watch it take shape.
While a Technic build of this size would normally take over five months to finish, the 12-strong team of builders managed to complete the model - made up of 626,392 elements - in just 24 hours.
When finished, the model featured 623 types of Technic pieces and measured 520cm long, 220cm wide and 136cm high - whilst barely tipping the scales at over 900kg.
The build process
One of the tricks devised by the team to cut down on time was their "hyper elements" concept - building upscaled Technic elements from smaller Lego pieces - a process that was used for the first time by the builders at Le Mans.
"Our designers are always ready for the next challenge, but building this iconic model for real certainly pushed their building expertise to the limit," observed Joanna Katharina Lazar, vice-president of global product and marketing development at Lego.
"Watching their creativity as they tackled the pioneering build live at Le Mans next to the real model, and hearing the crowd cheering them on was truly a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The challenge really shows that with Lego Technic and some imagination, you can build anything for real."
The model was built and displayed at the Peugeot Sport stand at the Le Mans race - a stone's throw from the on-site Lego shop, where Peugeot fans could buy their own scaled-down model of the 9X8.
"We have been working closely with Lego Technic on the Peugeot 9X8 and are so happy that it is now available for fans across the world to buy," said Peugeot CEO Linda Jackson.
Le Mans 24 Hours 2023 - mixed fortunes for Peugeot
The launch of the Peugeot 9X8 marked the return of the French marque to Le Mans since its LMP1 programme ended in 2011. The first of Peugeot's two hypercars was piloted by ex-F1 driver Paul di Resta, alongside GT racer Mikkel Jensen and French Formula E driver Jean-Éric Vergne.
The second car was driven by 2013 Le Mans winner Loic Duval, with Brazilian-American driver Gustavo Menezes and Swiss Formula E driver Nico Muller.
The 9X8 had been off the pace compared to the front-running Toyota and Ferrari teams, but Menezes still managed to lead the field in the race's third hour, with the team ultimately managing to bring both cars home in eighth and twenty-seventh.
The team is now optimistic about its future, with Peugeot Sport's technical director Olivier Jansonnie hailing the Le Mans race as a "turning point".
"All the work we have been doing for four years is finally paying off - we are pretty proud of that," he said.