Porsche have made it two wins in a row at the Le Mans 24 Hour race when this year Toyota’s TS050 suffered a heartbreaking mechanical failure with just one lap to go. All of the prototype class competitors are remarkable machines, with more diversity amongst the top three than in the whole Formula 1 grid, and it’s Porsche’s 919 Hybrid that is perhaps the most unusual. A tiny turbocharged V4 is mated to a suite of electric motors giving the car immense power, but also (and importantly for a 24 hour race) good fuel efficiency too.

This stunning replica of 2016’s Le Mans winning Porsche 919 comes from Charbel of Eurobricks, and it features a recreation of the 919’s turbo-four, plus a four-speed sequential gearbox, independent suspension, and working steering. It’s a true Technic Supercar and you can see all the images on Eurobricks at the link above.

It’s not all exotic supercars and space-based ants here at TLCB. Sometimes we like humble workhorses too, like this mini excavator, as found on small building sites the world over. This Technic version, pictured here removing Elf droppings, has been built by Anto of Eurobricks and it’s a miracle of packaging, with no less than nine working functions.

Two infrared receivers control four functions each, and a gearbox adds a ninth, allowing the model to drive and skid-steer via independently controlled tracks, rotate the turret, raise, lower, rotate and extend the arm, raise and lower the front blade, and pneumatically open and close the bucket. How all that fits inside is a mystery that the collective mind of TLCB is unable to fathom, but if you’re smarter than us you can give it a go via the Eurobricks discussion forum – click the link above if you dig it.

It was a very Technic-y last week here at TLCB, but you don’t need a billion bricks to make a decent Technic model. Suggested by a reader, this little remote control 8×4 truck by TomasHubik makes a lot out of a little. A single Medium motor provides drive, a Servo provides the steering, there’s pendular rear suspension, and that’s about it. You can see more via Eurobricks – click here to make the jump.

Ford’s Raptor is arguably the most hardcore production off-road pick-up truck on sale. For 2017 Ford are preparing  a new version, ditching the old V8 and replacing it with their new twin-turbo V6 as found in the Ford GT. No doubt some backwards-thinking rednecks will lament this update, but we’re all for it here at TLCB. Previous bloggee Rage Hobbit of MOCpages seems to be too, and he’s recreated the upcoming Raptor in monster RC Technic form.

With twin buggy motors driving a selectable 4×4 system through a 4-speed sequential gearbox, working steering, independent front and 4-link live axle rear suspension, opening (and locking) doors, hood and tailgate, plus a the 2017 Raptor’s Ecoboost V6 up front, Rage’s Raptor replica is one of the best off-roading Lego creations we’ve seen this year.

There’s lots more to see at Rage Hobbit’s MOCpage, including an extensive image gallery, full technical details and a video of model in action – click the link above to make the jump.

Things that do a lot for a little are very much liked here at TLCB. Now we aren’t suggesting that the real Porsche 911 is a cheap thrills option – unfortunately classic cars are being hunted down like Pokemon at the moment, so even the lowest spec, ugliest bumper-ed 911 is worth silly money these days – but this tidy Technic recreation of Porsche’s 964 series 911 shows what can be done with a few bricks and a bit of talent.

Underneath the simple but actually quite effective bodywork is a working flat-6 engine, functioning steering via both hand-of-god and the steering wheel, folding seats, plus opening doors, hood and engine cover. Which means that this little gem has nearly as much going on as the official £250 LEGO Technic Porsche 911 GT3, only it uses about a tenth of the pieces.

You can see the full gallery on Brickshelf courtesy of Atrx, where’s there’s also a link to a video demonstrating the model’s features. Good stuff Atrx!

We were very excited when we first broke the news of LEGO’s brilliant-looking 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 set, especially when TLCB anoraks deciphered that it would feature a working paddle-shift gearbox. Unfortunately the reality of 42056 – especially that much hyped gearbox – hasn’t lived up to the sky-high expectations that preceded it, a fact made all to clear here at TLCB. So what if you’d like a Technic Porsche that doesn’t cost the earth and that works? Well handily we have two answers for you today…

First up (above) is paave’s fantastic 964 series 911 cabriolet. With working steering, a flat-6 engine, and opening doors, hood and engine cover, paave’s creation has everything you’d expect to find in a small Technic set, and to these eyes it looks better than the official 42056 product too. You can see more of this excellent build on both MOCpages and Eurobricks via these links.

Second (below) is Horcik Designs‘ effort, and it too looks a fine home-brewed attempt at bettering LEGO’s official 911 GT3 set. With working steering, a flat-6 engine, a functioning gearbox, all-wheel independent suspension, a working clutch, and a pneumatically adjustable rear spoiler Horcik’s creation is what LEGO’s could have been if they hadn’t spent so much money on a fancy booklet for collectors (who won’t open the box anyway so it’s wasted on them). There’s more to see of Horcik’s Porcshe 911 on Flickr at the link above, and you can check out a very disgruntled review rant of the official LEGO Technic 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 set by clicking here.

This incredible replica of Porsche’s mighty 2005 V10 supercar was discovered by one of our Elves on Eurobricks today. It’s the work of Artemy Zotov, and it’s one of the finest Technic Supercars that this site has ever featured.

Artemy’s Carrera GT is a near-perfect one tenth scale replica of one of Porsche’s most ambitious vehicles and it features a wealth of superbly engineered mechanical functions, including the Carrera’s unique V10 engine, all-wheel independent suspension, working steering, opening hood, doors and engine cover, and the Porsche’s clever rising and retracting rear spoiler.

There’s more of this stunning build to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum (and probably Flickr, MOCpages and Brickshelf too in the near future, but we’re quite early featuring this creation). Click this link to check out one of the finest Technic Supercars you’re likely to see his year.

Egor Karshiev‘s superb classic Toyota FJ40s have appeared here before in various guises and he’s recently added another version to his garage. This is an Icon FJ, built by the same Californian resto-mod company responsible for the mighty Icon Bronco. Egor wrote to Icon for information to help him build their FJ, and the CEO himself responded! Now that’s service!

Egor’s latest FJ is, like his previous iterations, fully remote controlled thanks to LEGO’s Power Functions components, with an XL Motor providing drive to all four wheels and and Servo controlling the steering. There’s live axle suspension front and rear, opening doors and hood, and an in-built LiPo battery and Smart Brick receiver.

There’s lots more to see, including a video of the real Icon FJ, at Egor’s MOCpage – click here to make the jump.

Beige… the colour of hearing aids, ageing light fittings, and the walls of houses owned by the chronically unimaginative. It’s not our favourite colour here at TLCB, and seeing as Smarties don’t come in this most boring of hues* the Elves don’t care for it much either. However, just occasionally beige can look damn good, and we have two creations here today to prove it.

First (above) is previous bloggee and TLCB favourite Shineyu‘s Technic Hong Hong minibus. Resplendent in two-tone beige and red this creation will be familiar to anyone from the Chinese island city, and it comes complete with Shineyu’s own personal advertising on the sides. Underneath there’s a full remote control Power Functions drivetrain, plus a set of additional motors powering the remotely opening door and a rotating front route sign.

There are lots more images of Shineyu’s minibus available to view at the Eurobricks discussion forum – take a ride over there via the link.

Today’s second bit of beige based brickery (below) comes from fellow Eurobricker damienple, who has used the hue to neat effect on his Technic 4×4 off-roader. Like Shineyu’s creation damienple’s model is fully remote controlled, with an XL motor providing the drive, a Servo the steering, and a Medium motor controlling a high/low range gearbox. There’s also live axle suspension on all four wheels, allowing this little 4×4 to perform pretty well in the rough stuff.

You can check all the details and pictures, and see the 4×4 in action off-road, at both the Eurobricks discussion forum and  on Brickshelf – click the links to make the jump.

*Unless we suck the colour off them first – not that we’ve ever done that…

Call us old-fashioned, but we don’t think there has ever been a prettier Porsche 911 than the very first generation, launched way back in 1963. Powered by an air-cooled 130bhp flat-6 the original 911 wasn’t particularly fast, but gosh does it look pretty today. By the 1980s the 911 had lost its understated elegance, but arguably the current 911 is regaining it against competitor cars looking ever more aggressive.

We’ll still take the original though, which is what MOCpages’ Markus Schlegel has done. His gorgeous Technic 1963 Porsche 911 is every bit as pretty as the real car, and includes working steering, adjustable seats, and opening doors, hood and engine cover. The full gallery of images is available to view at Markus’ MOCpages – click the link above to make the jump there.

The Lego Car Blog favourite Crowkillers is back, and this time he’s not working alone – but he hasn’t teamed up with another builder as you might expect. Instead Crowkillers has collaborated with the legendary Count’s Kustoms hot rod shop from the History Channel’s ‘Counting Cars’ TV show in order to create a pair of unique creations.

Above viewers of the show will recognise Count’s 1956 Chevrolet truck, complete with custom flame decals, whilst below is a model that some of our readers may recognise from a previous post.

Based on his ‘Assassin’ Technic Supercar, Crowkiller’s latest creation has been custom-painted by Count’s Kustoms’ own Ryan Evans and you can own it!

This amazing one-off Technic Supercar is being auctioned for charity to raise money for a little boy with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and it also includes two customised mini-figures from the TV show. You can read more about the model via Eurobricks, and if you’d like to see more of this unique collaboration and bid for your chance to own it you can do so by clicking on the giant letters below.

Click here to visit the Crowkillers & Count’s Kustoms auction

This incredible-looking vehicle is a 1980s Porsche 962C, one of the most dominant racing cars in the history of Sports, GT and Endurance racing. Built by previous bloggee Tamás Juhász aka mbmc this remarkable 1:8 replica is very probably the finest Technic racing car that we’ve featured here this year.

Underneath the beautifully replicated bodywork is one of the most brilliantly engineered chassis that we’ve come across. Each wheel is fully independently suspended (although that sentence really doesn’t do justice to just how incredible the suspension set-up on this model is), there’s working steering with Ackerman geometry, a functioning four-speed gearbox complete with gear indicator in the cockpit and – most impressively of all – an automatic clutch.

There are also working pneumatic brakes operated via the brake pedal in the cockpit, plus possibly the finest Technic engine that we’ve ever seen. It’s a twin-turbo flat-six, as per the real 962C, and you really need to click the links above to see it!

Tamás has published an extensive gallery to both Eurobricks and Flickr, and as his Porsche 962C also features opening doors and a removable engine cover for better access, the engine and chassis shots are really worth your clicks. You can see all of the spectacular imagery via the links in the text above – it’s where most of TLCB Office have been all afternoon.

If there’s one car that sums up the wide-boy 1980s best, it could well be this – the Porsche 911 Turbo. We must confess we’re not really fans of the 930-series 911 Turbo. Compared to the elegance of Porsche’s earlier models the 930 was a bit brash, and – to be honest – a bit crap too. When a car with, er… let’s be polite and say ‘interesting’ handling, has 130bhp – as the original 911 did – then it’s not too much of an issue. Give that car over 300bhp, which also arrives suddenly a few seconds after you’ve pressed the throttle, and people die. Which they did.

Anyway, whilst the 1980s 911 Turbo was not a very good Porsche, it has been turned into a very good Technic model. This one is the work of Blaž Dlopst aka blaz62, making his TLCB debut, and it has working steering, suspension, a 4-speed gearbox, and the famously lethal flat-6 piston engine slung way out the back.

There’s lots more to see of Blaz’s 911 Turbo at his Flickr photostream, Brickshelf gallery, or via the Eurobricks discussion forum, where it has – like many of the recently featured Porsches here at TLCB – been built for the latest LEGO ReBrick competition.

As a result of the current competition our Elves are finding lots of Porsches worth blogging (this one meant an orange Smartie reward, and they’re the best kind), so if you’re not a fan of Porcshe – sorry! However if you do like Porsches there are lots to see! – You can view all of those featured by using the Search bar at the foot of every page, or by clicking on the ‘Porsche’ tag under this post.

This glorious Porsche 911 wide-body racer is part of the current LEGO ReBrick competition. Built by previous bloggee jorgeopesi it’s true Technic supercar, featuring working suspension, a flat-6 engine, all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-steering, and it looks… well it looks like that. Bloody brilliant. There’s more to see at the jorgeopesi’s Rebrick page – click the link above to see more on ReBrick, or here for the Brickshelf gallery.

The second part of today’s Porsche pairing comes from newcomer Jacob Lockett and is also built for LEGO’s ReBrick Porsche competition. Jacob has chosen to recreate one of Porsche’s rarest and most interesting cars, the mid ’60s flat-4 engined 904. Despite only having four cylinders and a two litre capacity, the 904 made almost 200bhp, and that was way back in 1964! Even today that’s a good figure for a two litre 4-cylinder. Jacob’s Technic recreation features working suspension, functioning steering, and a replica flat-4 piston engine. There’s more to see via ReBrick – click the link above to make the jump.

This three-wheeled oddity is a Grinnall Scorpion III, a BMW-bike engined track-car built by one of the UK’s many weird sports car companies that most people have never heard of. Well this one isn’t of course, it’s a Lego version, built by Flickr’s James Tillson, and it’s quite a neat bit of kit. With all-wheel-suspension, RC steering and a Buggy Motor driving the single rear wheel James’ Scorpion replica looks like a riot to drive on a slippy lino floor. You can see more images of the Grinnall on Flickr here, and you can see it in action on a slippy lino floor at Eurobricks here.

TLCB Elves are great fans of remotely controlled creations. If they’re large and/or fast enough they can even be used to smush unsuspecting co-workers.

Today’s Elf needs to go back to school though, as its find – paave‘s brilliant Technic school bus – is neither large nor fast. Unfortunately this meant that the group of Elves it was targeting heard the bus coming, jumped out of the way, overturned it in a rare moment of Elven cooperation, and then chased the controlling Elf out of the office. As your Mom would say, size matters.

Anyhoo, in this case it’s actually the creation’s diminutive size that makes it more impressive, as squeezed inside are a full remote control drivetrain and a working motorised door, all in a model that’s only about 10 studs wide.

You can see more of paave’s Technic school bus on MOCpages, Brickshelf, and Eurobricks, where there’s also a video showing the cunningness within.

Remote control models have become incredibly popular since the introduction of LEGO’s excellent Power Functions motors and infrared control system. This Corvettesque creation, the latest build by Chade of Flickr and Eurobricks, packs in the full suite of Power Functions components underneath its beautifully neat bodywork. Two L Motors drive the rear wheels whilst a Servo allows for precise steering control, the on-board battery is hidden within the chassis, and LEDs are utilised to give the front lights realism.

The whole package has been very thoroughly engineered by Chade, making this creation one of the neatest RC builds we’ve seen in a while. There’s lots more to see, including images of the chassis and drivetrain, on both Flickr and Eurbricks – click the links above to make the jump.

Another day and another Elf returns to TLCB Towers in the hope of receiving a meal token and a Smartie. A hope realised, as this remote control Technic Scania truck is just the sort of model that this blog was created for. Built by newcomer Fig850 it features RC drive, steering and tilting cab (powered by an L motor each), a remotely operated three-speed gearbox, a V8 piston engine and working front and rear suspension. You can see more via Eurobricks at the link above whilst we dispense a yellow Smartie to a happy Elf.

After the near collapse of America’s ‘Big Three’ auto manufacturers following decades of crappy products, poor investment and safety cover-ups, Ford have progressed rather well. Their ‘One Ford’ programme is central to the company’s recovery, and it aims to create cars that are suitable for multiple markets, in doing so leveraging greater economies of scale and utilising Ford’s breadth of expertise around the world.

The results are that America gets down-sized turbo engines and the Focus and Fiesta from Europe (a Good Thing), and here in Europe we get the South American Ecosport crossover (Not a Good Thing), the new Europe-friendly Mustang (a Very Good Thing) and – in the last few weeks – this; the large American-developed Edge SUV.

The jury is still out on whether this is a Good Thing or not, as although the European Edge comes with EU-friendly turbo-diesels, it’s a bit big and a bit soft to appeal to European reviewers. Still, they’re largely numpties anyway because no-one wants to throw a car round a corner at 60mph if it has two kids and a labrador in the back, yet this seems to be a priority for every automotive journalist.

Anyhoo, what we are certain of is that this Technic recreation of Ford’s latest offensive into the European SUV market is absolutely brilliant. Built by Flickr’s chumuhou it features a full remote control drivetrain with two L Motors powering all four wheels, Servo steering, all-wheel independent suspension, opening doors, hood and trunk, and a beautifully realistic interior. There’s lots more to see at chumuhou’s Flickr photostream – click the link above to make the jump to check it out.

Back in the mid-’80s world rally cars were a very different animal to those racing today. With only the loosest affiliation to their road-going counterparts, the racers of Group B took rallying (and then rally-cross, after they were banned from the WRC in 1987) to a whole new level or speed, and – unsurprisingly – risk. Formula 1 had mostly cleaned up its safety record by the mid-’80s, however Group B rallying ensured that professional motorsport continued to send people home in boxes.

A series of fatalities in 1986 prompted the FIA to act, and it was to be Group B’s last WRC season. The cars were not forgotten though, with many transferring to rally-cross, whilst Peugeot updated their monstrous 205 T16 to run in the Paris-Dakar rally, winning in ’87. ’89 and ’90.

Previous bloggee and Technic legend Nico71 has forgotten either, paying homage to the insanity of Group B with his latest creation, this superb Technic Group B rally car. Based on no particular model Nico’s model looks a bit like an Opel Astra to us (if Opel has created a Group B challenger), and it’s packed with mechanical Technic functions. These include a mid-mounted V6 engine, all-wheel-drive with three differentials, working steering both by the wheel and Hand-of-God, opening doors and rear engine bodywork, and fully independent suspension on all wheels.

As the time of writing Nico’s latest build isn’t on Brickshelf or the other main creation-sharing websites (big points for the Elf that found it!), but you can see all the details, a huge gallery of high quality images, and access instructions to build this model yourself at Nico’s own website. Click the link above to head to a forest in 1985.