Nevertheless, despite their long partnership with the LEGO Speed Champions line, Ferrari always brings something new to the table. Take last year's 1970 Ferrari 512 M for example: a totally unique addition to the LEGO Speed Champions garage and maybe the best building experience of that lineup. Despite my initial reservations, the Ferrari 812 Competizione still proved to be an impressive set.
Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
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- US$24.99/ £19.99/ 24.99€/ AU$32.99
- 261 parts
- 1 March 2023
LEGO Ferrari 812 Competizione on LEGO.com
New elements
The selection of new-for-2023 elements in the 76914 Ferrari 812 Competizione is scarce compared to the other sets in the lineup, with just two new moulds.
Chassis 6x12x1 1/3 No. 1, design ID 3385
- Car Base 6 x 12 with 5 x 6 Recessed Centre and Studs on Sides in Black (6424673 | 3385)
This new chassis is also found in 76915 Pagani Utopia and 76918 McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM.
It is quite an upgrade of compared to the original chassis (65634), shown above right. First off, there's a cut out at the front and back, to increase the building options. The central well is also larger, allowing for a roomier interior and even the potential for a back seat.
Perhaps the most drastic change is that the bottom of the element has been lowered by a half-plate relative to the usual attachment point for the wheels. This means LEGO Speed Champions cars now have the minimum ground clearance possible.
There are some more differences on the underside: it has been made almost completely smooth.
"When we developed the first chassis for the eight-wide cars, there was connectivity underneath. We needed that for cars like the Audi [76897 1985 Audi Sport Quattro S1 in 2020]. But now that we've done three or four launches of cars in eight-wide, we’ve realised that we don't actually need to build off the bottom, and we can go even lower if we lose the buildability underneath. This allows us to get extra close to the ground. It's half a plate lower than the wheelbase is; we can't physically get lower than that to the ground, so this is literally as low as we can go."
- LEGO® Speed Champions creative lead, Christopher Leslie Stamp
Mudguard 2x4x2 No. 2, design ID 3387
- 4x Mudguard 2 x 4 x 2 No.2 in Red (644169 | 3387)
These red versions of the new wheel arch are only available in the Ferrari, but you’ll find Dark Bluish Grey ones in 76915 Pagani Utopia, and White ones appearing in 76916 Porsche 935 and 76918 McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM.
The new mudguard is shown above in red, next to the old type (18974) in blue. From what I can tell, the arched portion of the element is exactly the same, however the portion behind has had a complete overhaul.
"We've cut out a whole plate on top. To do that, we had to think carefully about how we'd make the brick portion of the element behind the arch. You can't just have this studded area on the top, as structurally, it’s too weak. This top area isn't a plate thickness underneath, it's actually much thinner than that.
"This is actually the least amount of material you need for it to be stable and to build on without damaging the element. You need those corners in there for support and this is the minimum that we can do without the arch interacting with the tyre. Once again, on LEGO Speed Champions, we're cutting away literally as much as we can, so that we can allow these cars to get as low and as accurate as possible."
- Chris Stamp
Removing a whole plate from the top of the brick allows for super-smooth tiled car bonnets. LEGO Speed Champions cars will never be the same again!
New decorated parts
There are many decorated elements that appear in the Ferarri to recreate its red, yellow, and black livery:
- 1x Windscreen 6 x 6 x 1 1/3 with print in Trans-Black (6437891 | 65633)
This print of the existing LEGO Speed Champions windscreen demonstrates that it’ll still be a mainstay for the line and won’t be replaced by the 2023 windscreen moulds any time soon.
- 2x Brick 1 x 1 with print in Red (6437893 | 3005prx)
- 4x Tile Round 1 x 1 Half Circle with print in Black (6437897 | 24246prx)
- 2x Tile Round 1 x 1 with print in Red (6447377 | 98138prx)
- 1x Slope Curved 3 x 2 with Stud Notch Right with print in Red (6437896 | 80178prx)
- 1x Slope Curved 3 x 2 with Stud Notch Left with print in Red (6437895 | 80177prx)
The brick and the round tile will certainly find use in other applications.
Recolours
There is just one solitary recolour in the Ferrari, and of course, it’s red:
- 1x Tile Round 2 x 4 in Red (6438015 | 66857)
Sticker Sheet
The 22 small stickers on this sheet make it look quite sparse. A fair amount of these are used to create the racing stripe and a few more small insignias and embellishments are dotted around the vehicle. Unfortunately the cockpit is printed with said stripe so the completed model does look a little odd if you choose to omit them, like I did.
New minifigure parts
- 1x New torso in Black (6438003 | 973cxx)
The minifigure has a new torso printed with a simple black shirt with a small Ferrari emblem on the pocket.
Rare parts
Finally, a few rare elements for motor fans and a little surprise in the form of …two minifigure blasters?!
- 4 x 72206 Wheel Rim 24 x 12 with Black Tyre in Titanium Metallic/ Pearl Dark Gray (6337780 | 72206) in 3 sets
- 2 x 69767 Launcher, Weapon Gun / Blaster / Shooter Square in Titanium Metallic/ Pearl Dark Gray (6345880 | 69767) in 4 sets
Certainly an element I didn’t expect to see in the box- I couldn't wait to see how these blasters would be used in the build!
- 1x Bag Containing Wheel Cover 5 Spoke and 9 Spoke -4 of each in Pearl Dark Grey (6323457 | 72210) in 3 sets
The Build
After building upon our new chassis element, the attention quickly turns to the back of the build, which uses plenty of SNOT bricks to create the details in this area.
My favourite part of the build was creating the interesting shape on the back of the car using this sub-assembly. It's locked in with the curved slope and wedges on top and the finish is seamless.
Those surprising minifig blasters are used to represent large exhaust pipes.
The designers have paid close attention to the details in the interior of the car as well as the exterior. The seats feature a printed element on the headrest and there are some nice brick built detail on the dash board. I love to see these touches that aren't apparent from the outside: it's clear the designers have put plenty of care and attention into this model.
The combination of plates, wedges and tiles work well to recreate the vents on the doors. There is a small gap between these side panels and the windscreen element, which may bother some builders, but I think it's only really noticeable on close inspection.
A hinge brick is used to slope the car's bonnet: it's simple, but it works. This technique creates a slight gap, but it's hidden well enough in the black stripe across the bonnet.
Closing Thoughts
If you're only looking to get your hands on some new elements, the other LEGO Speed Champions sets in the March wave have more to offer, but 76914 Ferrari 812 Competizione still offers an engaging building experience and the finished model is about as accurate as you could expect from a LEGO Speed Champions set.
Like the other two new LEGO Speed Champions sets I've looked at so far, I like the finished model very much: it's smooth with plenty of authentic details, but it's the construction and shaping at the rear of the vehicle that impressed me the most. While I would recommend the other sets over this one for their variety of parts, it's hard to recommend a particular model for building experience as they each offer something different.
The set relies on stickers to recreate the Yellow Racing stripe that stretches the length of the car, which is unavoidable. I left my model sticker-free to use the parts in other MOCs (this is currently my only opportunity to acquire a 2x4 round tile).
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The above image from LEGO shows the model with stickers applied.
LEGO Ferrari 812 Competizione on LEGO.com
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The Supra is from two years ago, and you forgot to mention black in the list of colors the new wheel arch is available in. ;)
ReplyDeleteHappy to see a review with stickers left on the sticker sheet, as I don't apply stickers myself. Thank you.
The Supra was two years ago! Oops. Doesn't time fly! Sorry about that. And you're right about the Black wheel arches, we'll see those very soon in the next review! Thanks for the correction :D
Deleteomg, thanks SO much for not adding the stickers, I wanted to see what it would look like w/o it as I wasn't a fan of the yellow stripe and yours is the only one I could find. I'm going to swap out the windshield with the F8 Tributo. Did you or will you be reviewing the R34?
ReplyDeleteReally glad you appreciate it!
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