Lego and McLaren make pit stop at Orchard Road with life-sized race car

Fans of Formula 1 (F1) and Lego, start your engines! Ahead of the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix, British motor racing team McLaren has teamed up with The Lego Group to bring a special pop-up experience happening from Sept 23 to Oct 2 at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza in Singapore. 

The event features a life-sized Lego Technic McLaren F1 Race Car, as it makes its first pit stop in Southeast Asia. The replica model, which measures 5.7 metres in length and 2.4 metres in width, is made up of a whopping 288,315 Lego bricks, and took about 1,893 hours to assemble.

Attendees can get up close and marvel at the meticulous attention to detail, complete with a removable halo and steering wheel, and even get in the driver's seat for a unique photo opportunity and complimentary photo printout. This life-sized model is nine times the size of the Lego Technic 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car set that attendees can purchase at the store.

Other interactive stations at the pop-up include the Lego McLaren Race Car Build, where participants will have to race against time to put together a half-assembled Lego Technic 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car set, and stand to take home a Lego minifigure upon completion.

If you don't manage to accomplish a fast building time, a Lego Minifigure also comes free with every Lego Speed Champions set purchased.

For those who prefer a mental challenge, the Lego Match & Build activity puts memory and speed to the test as participants learn more about the functions of the various buttons on an F1 steering wheel.

More notably, the youngest-ever British F1 driver Lando Norris will be cruising by the venue on Sept 28 to say hi to his fans. Each day, one lucky shopper at the pop-up stands to win a set of the Lego Technic 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car exclusively signed by Norris himself.

The Lego Technic 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car set retails for $299.90, but attendees who buy it on-site will be able to enjoy a 10 per cent discount at $269.90. They will also receive a Lego McLaren Elva Polybag (30343), which comes as a complimentary offering with a minimum purchase of $80. For those unable to make it to the pop-up, the race car set can still be purchased online on the Bricks World website. 

ALSO READ: Lego Technic adds a 1:8-scale replica of a Ferrari Daytona SP3 to its collection

This article was first published in Geek Culture.