REVIEW: 76906 1970 Ferrari 512 M

[Oky]

I’m not a “car guy” by any stretch of the imagination. I couldn’t even tell you what type of engine my own car has. However, I like cool-looking sports cars as much as anyone and bought a fair amount of LEGO Racers sets back in the day. And while I haven’t bought any sets from Racers’ spiritual successor, Speed Champions, I’ve had my eye on some of the sets for a while. Each wave seems to be getting better and better, and this latest batch of sets looks especially good, so I was excited to get the opportunity to review the entire wave! So, fasten your seatbelts and join me as I do a full inspection of these race cars, starting with…

Set Number: 76906
Name: 1970 Ferrari 512 M
Theme: Speed Champions
Year of Release: 2022
Ages: 8+
Pieces: 291
Price: $19.99 / 19.99€
Online Shop description:

 

Quote

The LEGO® Speed Champions 1970 Ferrari 512 M (76906) construction set gives kids and car enthusiasts of all ages the chance to collect, build and explore an iconic race car. Perfect for play and display, this faithful LEGO recreation captures the essence of the legendary 1970’s endurance race car – famed for its fearsome performance and epic on-track duels.

The Box

TLG is kicking off the March 2022 wave with a classic from 1970, the Ferrari 512, and not just any version of it, but the modified one (hence the “M”) driven by Jacky Ickx when he won the Kyalami 9 hours race. The box features the same design as the Speed Champions boxes from the previous two years with the theme’s logo on a checkered flag in the upper left corner and the car manufacturer’s logo in the upper right. I’m glad they switched back to this type of background from that boring gray stripe they were using from 2018 to 2019. The flag fades nicely into the background of the box art which shows the 512 racing ahead of two other cars on a racetrack. What’s odd is that it seems to be nighttime in this scene. I don’t know during which 9 hours the Kyalami race took place, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t at night. Correct me if I’m wrong in the comments.

However, they correct this potential inaccuracy on the back of the box where it shows the classic racecar driving down the track during daylight, showing off the rear of the vehicle. It also shows a close up of the cabin and a reference picture of the real car along with another Ferrari logo.

The top of the box features a three-quarter view of the car, some copyright info, and one of the shiny golden wheels for scale reference, while the bottom has the usual choking hazard warnings and other info.

The same image of the set is shown on one of the sides of the box along with a holographic sticker of authenticity from Ferrari. The other side only has an ad for the Lego Life app.

Contents

Inside the box there are two numbered bags, a sticker sheet, and one instruction booklet.

Instructions

This year, Lego is making the instructions for Speed Champions sets available in the Lego Instructions app. They’ve had these interactive instructions for a while now for Lego City, but I guess they have debugged it enough now that they feel comfortable branching out into other themes. And they want you to know about it. Not only does every set list this as one of the features of the set, but they also have a full two-page ad for the app at the beginning of the booklet which shows the different options for instructions using a City ice cream truck as an example. Unfortunately, the instructions for these sets have not been added to the app yet as of this writing, so I can’t test them out for you, but if they are like all the other 3D instruction in the app, they will be a nice alternative to the physical instructions, especially for visually impaired people, as they allow you to zoom in rotate around the model, although the rotating doesn’t always work the way you want. Oh well, I prefer physical instructions anyway.

The instructions are easy to read, and like all 2022 sets (AFAIK) feature a progress bar that runs along the bottom and shows you how far along you are in the build. Unlike in the City sets, the progress marker is not a minifig from the set, but a generic dot. However, they still managed to give the bar a unique flavor by making it gray to match the Speed Champions branding. There is an explosion of stars at the end of the instructions for the minifig and the car.

Notable Parts

There are only a handful of notable parts in this set, but they are good ones. There are three types of parts that are printed in this set: the windshield, a 1x2 tile in trans-black that has the top covered In red, and the 1x1 plate with a tiny Ferrari logo on the side which has shown up in a few other Ferrari sets before. There are six of these plates in the set, even though only two of them are visible in the finished model, so you could switch out the other four with unprinted ones from your collection and use them in your MOCs. This set also comes with the highly anticipated 1x5 plate that debuted last year and shows up in red for the first time here, along with the preexisting black version! The 1x2 plate with vertical clip also comes in red for the first time, and the new 1x2 inverted arch only appears for the second time in red after debuting in the Fender Stratocaster. This set comes with the old style of wheels with the newer dotted brake rotor lines which comes in pearl gold for the first time (although its predecessor with the solid lines did appear in 3 sets in that color).

Minifigs

This set comes with one minifig to drive this historic vehicle and you’d think that it would be a Lego version of Jacky Ickx considering that this is his car, but if you think that, you will be disappointed. Sadly, Speed Champions sets always come with super-generic drivers which is one of the reasons why I miss Lego Racers. As awkward as their faces may have looked, it was great to get minifigs of real racecar drivers like Michael Schumacher with their respective cars back in the day. So, instead of Jacky, we get this guy with tousled brown hair and a generic smirking face. It doesn’t even come with a wrench accessory like some Speed Champions drivers do. Not only is the face boring, but also misprinted in this copy of the set. The white dots in the eyes are too high, making it look like the minifig is wearing white eye liner. No judgement if the fig likes it that way, but I don’t think it’s intentional. Fortunately, it comes with a great, brand-new Ferrari racing suit that does match Jacky’s to make up for the disappointing head a bit. It’s nicely detailed with a Ferrari logo, zippers, and lines that continue down to the legs and onto the fig’s back.

The Build

Since I had never built a Speed Champions set before and the only cars I have built in recent years are the crappy ones that are included as an afterthought in Super Heroes sets, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by some of the building techniques. It’s interesting how they attached the hinges for the wedge plates behind the cabin and more the headlights and some of the side parts are attached by sticking them onto little bars.

The unique shape of the mudguards on the rear wheels is achieved by building sections with the 1x2 inverted arches and clipping them onto the side of the car upside down in order to un-invert them. It would have been nice if they had just made a non-inverted version of this piece, but it’s a clever workaround that works pretty well.

Spare Parts

There are only a few little bits left over after the build including one of the printed 1x1 Ferrari plates. There is actually one more round tile in trans-orange which isn’t pictured here as it was camera-shy and rolled away before I took the picture.

The Complete Set

 

Here is the finished car in all it’s boxy-yet-aerodynamic glory! Aside from the six studs on the wedge plates behind the cabin, there are no exposed studs on the model, making it look nice and smooth. The color scheme and shape of it remind me of the A-Wing. I wonder if Ralph McQuarrie was inspired by this car for the design of that ship?

Compared to the real thing, it looks pretty spot-on. The Lego version is only missing the rearview mirror (?) on top and some decals, especially around the back, but I’m not gonna complain about not having to apply more stickers.

I like that the headlights are brick-built on this model rather than stickered or printed on like on most Speed Champions cars, although the use of trans-black parts makes them look too dark in my opinion. I think trans-clear would have looked better.

It’s interesting how they designed the headlights so that they go all the way to the edge of the car by capping them off on the sides with the translucent tiles with the red printing on top. Unfortunately, as is always the case when they try to print on dark parts, the red color on the print appears darker than that of the red parts around it, and there is a visible dark outline around the print, making the tiles look out of place. It’s a clever idea, but it doesn’t work very well. Otherwise, the nose of the car looks great as they recreated the wedge shape of it excellently by building the entire nose section at an angle. In fact, the entire profile view of the car looks great.

Spoiler alert! The two little spoilers at the back of the car which on the real vehicle are only attached at the corners are held on by trans-clear round plates with handle which is a clever solution. What I don’t like, however, is that the back of the driver’s cabin is almost completely open. I’m not sure how they could have fixed this, but it’s not ideal.

I like how they executed the air channels on the sides of the car that go down toward the rear wheels, under the hull, and out towards the spoilers.

The windshield can be lifted up towards the front, so you can seat the driver inside without having to completely take it off like you do on most Speed Champions cars. This is not how it works on the real 512, but it’s a neat play feature all the same. The interior features a stickered double cheese slope with gauges which adds a welcome bit of detail.

We have actually gotten this type of racecar before. Set 75876 included the Ferrari 512’s main competitor, the Porsche 917. Even though the Porsche set came out back when the Speed Champions cars were 6 studs wide and looks much inferior to this set, I think the Ferrari would look good next to the 917K. (Picture courtesy of Brickset)

Ratings

Design: 8/10
A slick looking vehicle that looks very accurate with only minor design flaws.

Build: 8/10
An enjoyable build with several unusual SNOT techniques and not too many stickers.

Playability: 6/10
The car is fun to zoom around and the windshield can be lifted up.

Figures: 7/10
An exclusive, detailed body is bogged down by an inaccurate, generic, and misprinted head.

Parts: 7/10
A few new recolors of fairly new molds and some printed parts. Not too bad!

Price: 10/10
At 291 pieces for just 20 bucks, this is easily one of the best values for a Speed Champions set!

Overall: 8/10
The March 2022 wave starts out strong with this accurate recreation of a classic LeMans racecar. It’s relatively challenging to build, fun to play with, and it looks good on display. The only things that detract from it are the generic minifig head and some printing quality issues. At such a good value, I can definitely recommend it.

Thanks for reading and thanks to TLG for sending me this set for review. What do you think of the set? I’d be curious to hear from Speed Champions fans and car aficionados, so let me know in the comments and in the poll above. The set will release on March 1, 2022: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/1970-ferrari-512-m-76906

In my next Speed Champions review, we will take a look at a type of car that has never been seen in LEGO before!

Until then, may the downforce be with you.

[Clone OPatra]

You did it! You managed to make a funny out of a car!

This set (and all of the recent Speed Champions ones) looks great. LEGO blows my mind with how they achieve all the shapes in a way that is still stable enough to release in an official set.

Also thanks for including that picture of the Porsche at the end. This set makes that one look practically like a 4+ model!

[MKJoshA]

This set is a thing of beauty. I may end up picking up most of this year's line of Speed Champions. They look amazing and my son will love driving them all over!

[TeddytheSpoon]

I've often said that SC sets are the best place to see interesting parts usage and techniques at relatively affordable prices, and this seems to be no exception with the upside-down pieces. Interestingly the last one I remember seeing like this was the F40, also a Ferrari.

Great review!

[Feuer Zug]

Good review. Thanks for explaining the ins and outs of this exquisite piece of Italian machinery.

Regretfully, I disagree with Darth Vader. The downforce is not strong with the 512M. The Chaparral 2J or many of the 80s and 90s Group C or Formula 1 cars had Downforce.

[whitepen]

Great review for a fantastic looking set!

16 hours ago, Clone OPatra said:

This set makes that one look practically like a 4+ model!

Very true!

 

13 hours ago, MKJoshA said:

This set is a thing of beauty. I may end up picking up most of this year's line of Speed Champions. They look amazing and my son will love driving them all over!

Me too! The line just keeps getting better!

[Pato Sentado]

Love it!!!

[_TLG_]

Thanks for this review and for the photos especially the side view which is really a good one and helps to understand this build. I think that the main picture on the offical box is not the best one because the front of the car seems to be too long, probably because of the strong perspective.