Lego Speed Champions

I have gained a new Lego based obsession: Lego Speed Champions! I have known of their existence for many years now, but never took any real interest in them. But then that all changed, just a few months ago.

Since the early 2000’s, I have been a keen fan of cars. Not necessarilly for their technical specifications, or their performance capabilities, but more for how they look. And during that entire period I have also been a big fan of the Clarkson, Hammond, and May, era of Top Gear, and The Grand Tour. Plus I occassionally like to look at various Supercars from different companies, and fantasize at what cars I may like to own in the future; from the sensible budget choices, to more wild dreams (like owning my favourite car; the Pagani Zonda F). Basically put, I like Cars.

I have also always liked playing with Lego, but it wasn’t until my early adult years, when I had some stability from a paid job, that I could purchase Lego sets either in bulk, or even come close to purchasing much larger sets. Also, my good friend Helen loves Lego too. So over the last 7-8 years or so, I have made built quite a few lego sets, with particular highlights including several Ninjago Dragons, a Horizon Zero Dawn Tallneck, a Technic model of the Ford GT, and possibly most impressive; the Lego Technic Bucket Wheel Excavator.

Lego Speed Champions was for me, a set of small looking cars, but nothing tha really grabbed my attention much, as it looked more appropriate to a younger age group. So what changed? Well, when I go on short weekend breaks, I like to visit large cities. I prefer big cities, as there’s more to see and do. So I can have a good walk around taking photographs (another mini hobby I enjoy), whilst also looking around the shopping districts, with more choice than in my much smaller home city of Lancaster.

Quite a few of these large cities have Lego shops in them, and even though I do have a large stack of un-made Lego sets in my bedroom, it’s always fun to look inside them. I also get very tempted to buy something, as going to a Lego shop feels almost like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, even though I have visited three this year. But as I like to travel to these cities by train, and already have my belongings to carry to and from these towns; I do realize I can’t get anything too big. I think the largest I have ever bought from a Lego shop, was the Technic Ford GT.

A little less than four months ago; I visited Glasgow for the first time (terrific city by the way); and whilst I was there, I did buy a Lego set, from the Lego shop. But not wanting to get anything huge, I bought the Ford Mustang Dark Horse set. It was a nice small box, which didn’t cost a mint, plus it was of a model of a Ford Mustang, so win, win, win.

I didn’t make it right away though. I just took it home, and added it to the pile. Over a month later, I bought the Audi S1 e-tron Quattro Race Car set. I wasn’t a big fan of the colour scheme, but again it was a small cheap model. But with that one, I pretty much made it as soon as I got home. And in that Lego play time, I discovered something really cool about the Speed Champions range.

A couple of things actually. They already have some previously stated merits in their favour (particularly the small price), but now they have a couple of others too. Firstly, for such a small Lego set, you can get very nearly two solid hours of Lego playtime out of them. Instead of spending days, or even weeks on large models, they don’t take a lot of time to make, but they still provide more than plenty of time in their own right. Add to that, the models are incredibly satisfying to build. Once they’re built, they look and feel really cool. It’s a small toy car that you have made yourself, and because they’re based on real cars, they look epic in detail. Even for someone like me, who doesn’t like to add the stickers, they still look awesome, and feel really awesome to hold, and show off to family and friends.

So far, I have built the aforementioned Audi, and soon after that I built the Mustang. Most recently I made the Porsche 963. And I have two seperate Lamborghini sets (Countach, and Lambo V12 Vision GT) waiting to be made too. But in the meantime, I am also scanning the online Lego store, looking out for more models to make. I wonder if I should build a Speed Champions Show Room to house them all in?