LEGO® Speed Champions 2020: The new pieces

Tomorrow is January 1 and that means new LEGO® sets, which in turn means new LEGO parts! We asked Duncan Lindbo to locate all the new moulds and printed parts in the 2020 range of Speed Champions, and additionally tasked him with exploring the capabilities of those exciting new moulds.

A few weeks ago, LEGO revealed the first wave of 2020 Speed Champions sets which are available from January 1 2020.

• 76895 Ferrari F8 Tributo
• 76896 Nissan GT-R NISMO
• 76897 Audi Sport Quattro S1
• 76898 Formula E Panasonic Jaguar Racing GEN2 Car & Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY
• 76899 Lamborghini Urus ST-C & Huracán Super Trofeo EVO

But we’re not here to talk about the sets themselves, we’re here for the parts!

New moulds in LEGO Speed Champions 2020

6287679|65634: Chassis 6x12x1 in Black

There’s one in each set.

There’s a lot going on with this part, most notably the center section where the driver and passenger sit. The hollow section is six studs wide, but there’s only five studs because they’re offset by a half-stud.

That might have made trying to build over this section a pain… except that these studs are all hollow! This means a 1x6 plate or brick can be placed in this section securely, and line back up with the rest of the studs on this part.

Most importantly, the design allows two minifigures to sit side-by-side, something a lot of LEGO cars have trouble with.

There’s also a row of six studs along each side of the hollow section, which matches up with all the existing SNOT brackets.

Read our interview with Design Manager Specialist for the Speed Champions line, Christopher Stamp,  where we discuss the design of this new chassis element at length, as well as other topics such as the change from 6-wide to 8-wide cars.

6287680|65635: Wheel Bearing 2X6X1 1/3 w/ Cross Hole in Dark Stone Grey/ Dark Bluish Gray

There’s four in set 76898 and two in all the other sets.

This part really feels like a POOP… Aside from the added stability, it’s sort of hard to see what advantages this part has over a 2x6 plate and 2 1x2 bricks with axle holes. Perhaps because of this, I tried a little harder to think of interesting uses for this part. The area around the axle holes is more open, which gives an interesting look when you line a bunch of them up.

Greebling, perhaps? Windows on a microscale spaceship?

Alternatively, they could be stair treads in a Myst-inspired moving staircase.

6290261, 6290262, 6290263|66727: Rim, dia. 18X12 w/ 4.85 Hole & Stud in Silver Metallic, White, Black

The Silver Metallic version comes in set 76895, White in 76897, and Black is in all the others.

These are fairly similar to the older wheels used in Speed Champions sets, except these have an open Technic hole rather than a cross-axle hole, and the brake pad pattern is slightly different. Is this a game-changer? Not really, but it does allow some builds that wouldn’t have been possible (or at least not as nice) with older parts, like this mock suspension assembly or this tiny Bat Pod-esque motorcycle.

6289404, 6289409|65633: Windscreen 6X6X1 1/3

There’s one in sets 76895 and 76899 each with different printing. Currently not available in an unprinted version, but hopefully soon. Of the two of them, the Ferrari’s version has more potential for use in your own models, given the lack of branding in the print.

6287674|65632: Windscreen 6X6X1 2/3

Comes in sets 76896, 76898, and 76899, and it’s unprinted in all three.

Both new windscreens have the same subtle curvature that captures the kind of curvature you’d see in real windscreens while still being relatively ‘in System’.

628831|64570: Plate 2X6, W/ 1.5 Plate 1X6, Upwards, in Brick Yellow/ Tan

There’s two in 76899.

© 2020 The LEGO Group

This is a part that first showed up in 2020 set pictures in the Friends 'Play Cubes', as a Light Purple/ Bright Pink floor. It’s another part that feels like a POOP, but that doesn’t mean it’s not useful: I used mine to make a cozy loft bed.

6296845|65429: Left Plate 2X4, deg. 27 in Medium Azure
6296846|65426: Right Plate 2X4, deg. 27 in Medium Azure

There’s one of each in 76898.

The number of parts we’ve gotten in the past few years that come to a ‘sharp’ point makes me wonder if LEGO used to have a policy against making these sort of parts that’s recently been relaxed somewhat.

Whatever the case may be, these wedge plates match up with existing 27 degree wedge plate family perfectly.

Because of their shape, they can be joined on the longest side edge-to-edge by using a single hinge plate to form a rigid kite shape, here used as a shield by a sci-fi knight.

I want this part in all colors! Aside from these Medium Azure ones, currently it is only available in Bright Red/ Red (6286516) and Black (6295295), both in LEGO Star Wars 75272 Sith TIE Fighter.

© 2020 The LEGO Group

Printed parts in Speed Champions 2020

I was pleasantly surprised by the overall number of printed parts in this wave. There’s a lot stickers too of course, but I don’t think any of the cars look terrible without them.

Here is the completed range, built without stickers.

The Ferrari Tributo in particular seems like it’d make a great M-Tron parts pack, what with the plain black prints on red tiles.

• 1x4 tile with 2 studs in Bright Red with solid Black print (6294049). 76895 has two, and I had an extra. I can’t say for sure whether that will be the case in all copies of this set, since it’s not the sort of part LEGO usually provides extras of. In fact, I was sure I’d missed a step until I checked the inventory. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a plate with “reduced knobs” (as LEGO once described this kind of part!) with a print rather than a sticker, and BrickLink seems to agree. Is anyone aware of one being printed in the past?
• Returning with a different Element ID is 1x1 plate with Ferrari logo in Bright Red on side (6253610). 76895 has two, plus an extra. It has previously only appeared in 75890 Ferrari F40 Competizione.
• Nexo shield in Bright Red with solid Black print (6291048). 76895 has two.
• Plate 4X6X2/3 in White with Black, Bright Red and Dark Stone Grey print including Nissan logo (6292282). 76896 has one.
• Plate 4X6X2/3 in White with Black, Bright Red and Dark Stone Grey print including Audi logo (6291430). 76897 has one.
• 1x6 tile in Medium Azure with Black and Dark Stone Grey stripes (6292560). 76898 has two.
• 1x6 tile in White with solid Black print (6294195). 76896 has two.
• 2x3 wedge plates in White with Black, Bright Red and Dark Stone Grey stripes (Left: 6291433, Right: 6291432). 76897 has one of each. Again, it seems wedge plates (as opposed to wedge bricks) have never been printed on before. In a sense, wedge plates are the same as plates with reduced knobs but with an angled edge, so perhaps this indicates an advance in printing technology.

I couldn’t quite wrap my head around why some of these parts were printed though. Then I noted that in the Tributo, all the printed tiles are partially obscured by additional parts. I’m guessing having stickers was avoided as it would have either damaged the stickers or created some additional stress on the elements and be deemed an illegal build. But if that is correct, why are the 1x6 tiles printed? They’re not covered by any additional parts. I’m not complaining though, I just find it odd. Perhaps there is simply a stronger commitment to avoid some stickers in Speed Champions, and using a more expensive printing process for the plates with reduced knobs is a part of that rather than a technological advance. What do you think?

Conclusion

I’m not really a car guy, so I can’t really provide a strong opinion on how accurate the sets are compared to their real-world counterparts. I also can’t comment on the 6-stud- versus 8-stud-wide debate: I didn’t pick up many of the earlier 6-wide cars, and the ones I did get were quickly disassembled to be fodder for MOCs… I will say this though: all the sets are fun builds. There’s lots of half-stud offsets and SNOT techniques, so even jaded AFOLs should have a good time building them.

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Note, with all the additional work we asked Duncan to do for this post, we relieved him of the duty of locating and listing out all the recoloured elements found in these sets! And if you're looking for actual set reviews of the 2020 Speed Champions range, check out our fellow fan media sites such as Brickset, The Brothers Brick and Zusammengebaut among others.

More Speed Champions insight is in our Chris Stamp designer interview!

READ MORE: See the new parts in 2020 LEGO Architecture set 21051 Tokyo

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