5.3 horsepower and a ‘theoretical’ top speed of 18 miles per hour
Bugatti is known for assembling super fast, mind-bogglingly expensive cars by hand. Of course, even if you have the cash, they’re rare enough that you’d probably be better off building your own. According to Lego, that’s apparently possible. The toy brick company announced on Thursday that it built a life-sized working replica of a $2.6 million Bugatti Chiron.
Much like its counterpart, the Lego Chiron has some outrageous specs... they just happen to be outrageous in a much different way. The motor — which is also made of Lego — generates only 5.3 horsepower. The car reached speeds of a little more than 12 miles per hour (though it has a “theoretical” top speed of about 18mph) during test runs, and the whole thing weighs over 3,000 pounds.
It takes 20 people six months to put together the 1,800 parts that make up the real Bugatti Chiron. The Lego Chiron took around the same amount of time to build, but it’s comprised of over 1 million Lego Technic pieces, including 2,304 Power Function motors, 4,032 gear wheels, and 2,016 axles. There’s a functional speedometer made from Lego, and it even has a working active rear spoiler that pops up on the back end of the car, just like the real thing. The Lego doors, headlights, taillights, steering wheel, and brake pedal all work, too. (There’s no acceleration pedal, according to Top Gear.)
It looks like the Lego Chiron took an enormous effort to build, so it’s no surprise that a few corners had to be cut. Lego used real Bugatti wheels and tires, and there’s a small steel frame reinforcing some parts. But, Lego stresses, it was built without using any glue. More than 90 percent of the car is Lego pieces.
