
LEGO built a life-size, drivable Bugatti from over a million Technic pieces - cududa
https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news-room/2018/august/technic-bugatti-chiron-build-for-real/
======
kozak
There is a PDF "fact sheet" explanation here:
[https://www.lego.com/r/www/r/portals/-/media/themes/technic/...](https://www.lego.com/r/www/r/portals/-/media/themes/technic/2hy2018/apollo/downloads/fact-
sheet.pdf)

It says that the car is not built entirely from LEGO parts: there is a steel
frame, axles, and many other non-LEGO things in it.

~~~
kazinator
Also, "LEGO Technic" is an ill-defined term. The various kits contain an
repertoire of custom pupose-designed pieces whose category appears to be open-
ended. It seems that almost any conceivable chunk of plastic whatsoever (or
perhaps another material) could be included a "LEGO Technic" kit. Thus if
something is built out of "LEGO Technic", what exactly does that mean? It
needs to be qualified, like built only with the pieces available in a
particular kit available to consumers (as many instances of that kit as
required).

~~~
lapinot
Not sure if you are a specialist who is nitpicking or simply not well
informed, but lego technic is pretty much well-defined (mostly as "every part
present in a set branded as `LEGO Technic`"). See [1] for part lists. The afol
community has nerdy tendencies (no judgement, i like it) and everything is
pretty much well-defined, even more for crucial questions such as "what parts
are valid to use" or "how can we combine them". For the second question see
[2] for a presentation on illegal builds.

[1] [https://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-
parts/technic](https://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-parts/technic) [2]
[http://bramlambrecht.com/tmp/jamieberard-brickstress-
bf06.pd...](http://bramlambrecht.com/tmp/jamieberard-brickstress-bf06.pdf)

~~~
edraferi
How does this address the unique parts that LEGO created for this specific
build? For example, they created interesting screw-adjustable beams to mount
the curving outer skin.

~~~
ganoushoreilly
It's highly probable they'll re-use the custom piece designs in future sets.

------
tda
more details here: [https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-
chiron/med...](https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-chiron/media)
(including a 714mb zip with images which I am still downloading)

Some facts:

    
    
        Over 1,000,000 LEGO Technic elements in total 
        339 types of LEGO Technic elements used 
        No glue used in the assembly 
        Total weight: 1,500 kg 
        Engine contains:
        2,304 LEGO Power Functions motors
        4,032 LEGO Technic gear wheels 
        2,016 LEGO Technic cross axles 
        Theoretical performance of 5.3 HP 
        Estimated torque of 92 Nm
        Functional rear spoiler (using both LEGO Power Functions and pneumatics) 
        Functional speedometer built entirely from LEGO Technic elements 
        13,438 man hours used on development and construction
    

Edit: images are meh, just press shots. Was hoping for more on how it was
built

~~~
tda
"...using 58 types of Technic custom-made elements", anyone have a information
on what those pieces are? They really spent an incedible amount of hours and
effort on this. 13k+ man hours...

~~~
91bananas
Crazy budget, just at $20 dollars an hour that is $~260k. Hope it paid off!

~~~
standerman
How many Bugatti's does this piece of marketing have to sell to justify the
cost? I'm guessing not many.

~~~
barkingcat
Like the other poster says - this doesn't really sell any cars because they
are spoken for as soon as the plans to build one are revealed (ie Bugatti
often sells through their entire planned-to-build cars years or even decades
before the car is actually built)

Often luxury car companies will refuse to build any more because each
additional car built reduces the value of all existing cars.

So the answer is 0. This marketing doesn't need to sell any cars to justify
the cost.

~~~
gsnedders
AFAIK, the Chiron production run is only about 60% sold last I heard.

~~~
chx
It's the Divo that is sold out but that's an even more limited run.

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mey
There are two things that really amaze me

    
    
      No glue
      Powered by lego electric motors
    

I can accept that there is important subframe and wheels not in Lego. It's
still masterful and essentially a work of art.

~~~
kmonad
a much fairer and better response than the snarky current top comment. who'd
deny this is amazing?

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ourmandave
If this thing is ever in an accident I hope first responders are wearing thick
soled shoes.

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lodi
And the best part is it's modular, so you can reconfigure it into a minivan
for your daily commute!

------
drcongo
Link to the story without all the Oath tracking:
[https://www.slashgear.com/life-size-lego-technic-bugatti-
chi...](https://www.slashgear.com/life-size-lego-technic-bugatti-chiron-
actually-drives-30543860/)

------
ChuckMcM
Fascinating stuff and a pretty amazing accomplishment! Good job Lego.

I've built a number of robots out of Lego Technic pieces and the only way to
keep them together was often to glue pieces together. There was a MIT
interstitial class (6.270) that was pretty influential in the hobby robots
scene during the late 80s and one of the fallouts of that was a great building
techniques guide that was notes on how to make things like power plants and
load supporting beams.

That said, supporting the weight of a person and a car in the air across the
distance between the front and read axles would have seemed pretty impossible
to me. Now if you looked underneath and there was a row of wheels keeping the
middle of the car supported that would not have surprised me. And then a top
speed of 20km/h ? That is almost 20' or 6m/second, that is fast for even a
small Lego car much less a huge one.

~~~
edraferi
> supporting the weight of a person and a car in the air across the distance
> between the front and read axles would have seemed pretty impossible to me

Yeah, there is a core steel chassis for that. The main LEGO stuff is the body
and engine.

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Scarblac
I wonder about the size of the step-by-step instruction booklet.

~~~
sizzzzlerz
Not to mention the size of the box it came in !

~~~
trumped
Ikea could sell it because it probably could fit in a car

~~~
cwkoss
"Sorry, my car broke down. Luckily I have a spare in the back, give me a few
days to assemble it."

~~~
trumped
for most people, it would probably take a few months to assemble

------
dclowd9901
If you're not a person who's spent much time with legos, it might be hard to
grasp why this is considered an "engineering feat". LEGO is a system of
modular building after all, right?

However, the kind of weight that 1,000,000 Legos is (in this case, north of
3,300 pounds) means that they had to use pieces, none of which (I believe)
exceed 8" in length, to form the support structure of this vehicle. I would
_love_ to see the "chassis" of this thing. Probably some gigantic rail
structures holding it all together.

~~~
bgutierrez
[https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-
chiron/med...](https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-chiron/media)
has a link to a "How We Did It" video. There are clips of the chassis and some
of the parts that weren't Lego. It shouldn't detract from the feat; the motor
is a matrix of Technic motors, the door hinges are Technic pieces, and the
skin was adjustable with a tool that also was made of Technic parts.

~~~
dclowd9901
Bummer. It’s honestly a bit disappointing because when it comes to Lego large
structures, the support structure tends to be the most impressive part (if
done in all Lego).

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cududa
What blows my mind is aside from the frame, wheels and batteries the whole
thing is LEGO

~~~
PeterisP
Not even the frame - "This is also the first-time load-bearing parts were
built purely out of LEGO."

~~~
nonsince
That doesn’t mean that all load-bearing parts are lego. It has a steel frame,
as the article states.

~~~
joering2
Exactly. No matter what your engineering skills are, the thickest Lego bricks
cannot withstand a grownup man sitting on them.

~~~
jakemoshenko
I regularly sit on creations out of my daughter's duplo.

~~~
joering2
Put wheels on it and drive it 18mph we see then.

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mikkelam
For some reason the video widgets are unclickable for me on firefox, so here's
the direct link to the video for anyone else who might've had the problem

[http://legoexternal.23video.com/v.ihtml/player.html?token=96...](http://legoexternal.23video.com/v.ihtml/player.html?token=96120d3e2bf694f3e8f56a1dfba622f2&showDescriptions=0&source=share&photo%5fid=35403689&autoPlay=1)

------
kaffeemitsahne
There's some nice close-ups in the images.zip downloadable from here:

[https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-
chiron/med...](https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-chiron/media)

The patterns of the bodywork are ingenious and quite pretty as well.

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felipemnoa
Looking at the car it reminds me of the replicators in Stargate SG-1.

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bognition
Wow, this is just incredible. Was anyone else hoping there would be a head on
collision crash test between the two cars?

~~~
zaarn
You'd probably be torn to shreds in the lego one by the flying pieces and/or
die when you try to leave the car and step on the million pieces lying around.

~~~
na85
They don't usually perform crash tests with a real driver.

~~~
zaarn
Crash dummies have feelings too. Especially when being shredded by lego
pieces.

------
crispyambulance
Aside from shape, the LEGO one or the "real" one share other thing: they're
still both toys!

~~~
sandworm101
It is only a toy if it has no purpose beyond being a toy (see "art"). The
bugatti can get me to work and back.

~~~
cirgue
> The bugatti can get me to work and back.

So can a jet ski depending on where you live, but it's still very much a toy.

~~~
jethro_tell
Not if you live on an island. The same as snow machines are actual commuter
mobiles in places in Alaska.

------
Radle
For me, this is even more impressive than a real Bugatti.

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rcMgD2BwE72F
Is that the first Bugatti EV?

Joking aside, isn't it weird for LEGO to associate itself with a gaz-guzzler
while simultaneously trying to distance itself from fossil fuel-based
materials? Does anyone know if there's a commercial deal behind this project?

[0] [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/energy-
environme...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/energy-
environment/lego-plastic-denmark-environment-toys.html)

------
chx
I am sure you've read before if all modern tools and factories were to
disappear we would need to rebuild almost from scratch because you need more
precise tools to build even more precise ones. In that vein:

> There was an extra electric screwdriver build to adjust the cylinder
> pistons. It is made completely out of LEGO Technic pieces. It was needed
> because an actual screwdriver has too much torque. The LEGO one uses Power
> Functions motor, simple gearbox and custom-designed switch.

------
pbhjpbhj
Which is more expensive?

~~~
LeonM
Good question. A Bugatti Chiron MSRP is about 2.5MM, the lego version could be
more expensive, if you add all the bricks, the steel frame, the (real) Chiron
wheels (40k for the set, I estimate) and the 13,500 (!) hours of work it could
get really expensive, really fast.

------
escoundel
I hope they capitalize on it more and produce a few videos with build
walkthroughs and engineering behind it. For all its "markety" feel, there's a
lot to learn and engage folks interested in building with first principles in
mind.

------
mkj
I wonder how the "Functional speedometer built entirely from LEGOTECHNIC
elements" works. Do technic pieces have springs/magnets, or they're using
elasticity of the plastic pieces somehow...

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
Probably magnets.

[https://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-speedometer-
works.html](https://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-speedometer-works.html)

It wasn't _that_ long ago that all speedos were mechanical.

~~~
dsr_
It could also be optical (various LEGO computers have optical sensors and
timers).

------
bytesmith
It’s not quite as fast but in my opinion the Ferdinand GT3[1] is a much cooler
vehicle.

[1] [https://youtu.be/GaQB_tgS7f0](https://youtu.be/GaQB_tgS7f0)

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jsjohnst
> developed using over 1,000,000 LEGO Technic elements and powered exclusively
> using motors from the LEGO Power Function platform. Packed with 2,304 motors
> and 4,032 LEGO Technic gear wheels

So in other words, it costs more to build this model in parts (not including
13,000 hours of labor) to build than the original hypercar its replicating?

Not saying this isn’t super cool, but something to keep in mind for
perspective!

Update:

Not comparing retail prices, as obviously the LEGO version isn’t for sale,
talking about cost of building (not including R&D).

------
jandrese
I like how it has a detachable steering wheel just like a real race car. I was
wondering if the driver had to just press it onto the studs to install it.

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amelius
A crash-test video would be nice :)

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amelius
I want to see what's under the hood!

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SonicSoul
Unfortunately it costs 10x the price of the Bugatti if you add up the pieces

~~~
Finnucane
One assumes they didn't pay retail.

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Animats
2,304 little tiny motors!

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unwabuisi
Quite an amazing feat, but an even more amazing marketing campaign.

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andromaton
Unfortunately, the Lego pieces cost more than the original car.

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ovrdrv3
I WOKE UP IN A NEW ... Bugatti?

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iamleppert
Elon Musk should take note

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nkrisc
Honestly the original source is probably better than the techcrunch link. No
ads, more writeup.

[https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news-
room/2018/august/tec...](https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news-
room/2018/august/technic-bugatti-chiron-build-for-real/)

~~~
nogbit
of which requires flash to view the embedded video, shame they can't embed
like TechCrunch did.

~~~
cpburns2009
That page doesn't require flash to play the video. It's a JavaScript video
player using a <video> tag.

~~~
nogbit
that's what was sent to or rendered by your browser anyway

------
amarant
honestly, from these pictures at least, the lego version is more beautiful
than the original!

i hope they do a crash test with it when they finish showing it off at various
events :)

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village-idiot
That's actually kind of dangerous to drive, even a very slow speed impact
would absolutely shatter and leave the driver not only exposed to the other
car/barrier, but also the ground and everything else. People ejected from cars
via windows/sunroofs tend to fare very poorly, and the same is true if your
car stops being a car all around you.

Good thing it's probably not very fast. Or road legal. Still neat though.

~~~
snowwolf
20km/h top speed, driven by an "Official Bugatti Pilot" wearing a crash helmet
on a closed circuit.

I think they did their risk assessment.

~~~
airstrike
> Official Bugatti Pilot

Clearly, somewhere down the line I picked the wrong career.

