Lego Speed Champions: Ferrari 512 M

 My first Lego set! Well not the first, but the first one that i'm doing a little write up about anyway. Like I seem to say every time with these things, I've had this little set for a good while. It must've been a chrishtmas/bday present (they merge into one for me, so close together) from an old friend. But enough of that lets get to it.

Ferrari 512:

So a little history about the Fezza 512 then. Quite like doing these as it allows me to learn a bit about it as well :).

It had a very short career only spanning a couple of years 1969-1970 before they moved work onto the 312 PB, that seems to be the running theme with sportscar racing at the time however, with its main rival the Porsche 917 having a similar lifespan (albeit being a lot more successful, sorry Ferrari). It's quite odd that Lego decided to do a set of the 512 thinking about it, it's quite pretty but other than that it isn't particularly well known.

The 512 name comes from its 5 litre V12 engine which as you can imagine sounds pretty orgasmic. Putting out over 600hp it actually outclassed the early 917's in that regard, before Porsche decided to strap on a couple turbochargers to its 5 litre flat 12. The Ferrari however was heavier, and less reliable with issues affecting the suspension and transmission.

As is usually the case, the later M variant fixed quite a few of the issues faced with the first 512's but by then the plug had already been pulled and focus had shifted to the 312 PB because of the rule changes coming up in 1972, so we never got to see its full potential.

The Build:

I do quite enjoy building the little speed champions kits, there's something satisfying about getting it done start to finish in a leisurely couple of hours.

After the first bag

I still find the stickers the hardest part haha, the bottom of the doors are curved so that was fun. You've got one chance to get it right.

Not much to say really, it was pretty straightforward as these usually are. I'm sure there's more you could do with it re custom parts and lights etc but they have a nice simplicity all of their own without anything extra.

And there it is! overall a pretty fun build, no real tricky bits and I think the whole Lego aesthetic works really well with the 1970's blocky-ness and straight lines. It doesn't work well with some of the speed champions sets in my opinion, just look at the modern super car ones like the Koenigsegg or Huracan compared to this and the Audi Quattro. See what I mean? The older race cars look so much better to me.

A song about expecting too much from people and those expecting too much from you. When you're put on a pedestal and idealised by someone, there will inevitably come a point when you fall off it.

I must confess, I've made a mess of what should be a small success. But I digress, at least I've tried my very best, I guess.