An actual Ford GT was also on display alongside it in order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the legendary 1-2-3 finish for the car. This was one of the coolest moments in the history of Ford and Lego partnership.
There is a reason why this car means so much, the history and rivalry between Ferrari and Ford is only legendary and LEGO decided to honor Ford on its win is just icing on the cake. The real GT did manage to grab pole position at the GTE Pro Class.
Lego Replica
The replica is one-third the size of the actual car and has been built using 40,000 pieces over a three week period by a professional builder called Pascal. It has a number 66 decal on its sides which hints at the year of its victory, 1966. Pascal said that he had earlier done a 3D model of this replica. He also added that the logos and stickers on the car were difficult to place because of their intricate designs.
This is just amazing. It is incredible the attention to detail and the time it took to build this car. This is a work of art. In terms of creativity, that is the hallmark of modern day Ford which is showing so much creativity and Legos has been a creative company from the get go. So many children grow up playing with Legos and many times it leads them to do awesome things. Playing with Legos is a much more constructive activity for a child compared to watching cartoons or playing video games.
There is a YouTube video which shows parts of the build process and a few shots of the completed model too. The replica weighed around 90 pounds on completion.
If you believed that it took a lot of talent to stay awake throughout the day and watch the 24 hours of Le Mans, Pascal would probably make this accomplishment of yours seem less special.
The Race
This is the 84th rendition of this epic 24-hour race, and Ford Ganassi is going to be competing with a couple of Ford GTs in the WEC and another two in the Weather Tech Sports Championship.
Both WEC Fords are going to retain their number 66 and 67 numbers respectively and the IMSA cars will be numbered 68 and 69 respectively. These symbolize Ford's wins in the year 66, 67, 68, and 69 at Le Mans. It has been almost 5 decades since the historic wins and Ford is looking to recreate the magic.
Ford did manage to get the fairytale result that they were looking for. They won the GTE Pro class on this, the 50th anniversary of their first ever victory at Le Mans. But this doesn't mean the race wasn't without its own set of controversies.
There were accusations of sandbagging against Ford earlier in the year and these accusations grew louder when, on test day, organizers gave them a number of weight breaks which helped improve performance and ensured the Ford GT's finished a number of seconds faster than all other cars in their class. Ford obtained a clean chit in the end.
In the end, the 69 Ford GT won the class and second place went to Ferrari with Ford taking the third and fourth places.
It was a wonderful couple of days for the Lego replica and the company in general who generated quite a lot of publicity with this unique take on the Le Mans winning Ford GT. What is Lego going to make a replica of next? Your guess is as good as ours. But one thing is for sure, we can't wait to see what it is.
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