Designer Lubor Zelinka stands beside the life-sized Lego Lamborghini Sian FKP 37 at the 2023 Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
Of all the cars at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto this week, Lubor Zelinka most wanted to see the red Lamborghini Sian FKP 37 parked near the show’s South Hall.
He’d been thinking about this car – dreaming about this car, even – since he first saw sketches of the prototype in 2019. His desk at work was covered in photos of the Sian, and he had 3-D animated models of it on his computer. He’d even met with its designer in Italy. Until he walked into the Toronto show, however, he’d never seen the actual hypercar in all its $5-million glory.
And his first impression?
“I noticed a little small mistake we made. I kept it to myself, and I thought, ‘We did a good job.’ It actually looks like the real thing.”
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Mr. Zelinka is one of the designers of the life-sized Lego Lamborghini Sian FKP 37 that’s parked just across from the real Lamborghini. His model is created from more than 400,000 Lego Technic pieces and finished in lime green, one of the authentic colours offered by Lamborghini. Its bodywork is covered with hexagonal pieces that echo the six-sided shapes found on the real car.
Zelinka looks the real version of the $5-million Lamborghini Sian FKP 37.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
It took nine months for his team of 15 people based in the Czech Republic to develop and build the model. Although it was completed in 2020, the travel restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic meant it was not revealed until the Paris auto show last year.
Around the same time, Lego designers in Denmark created a one-eighth-scale Technic model of the Lamborghini Sian, which is one of the maker’s more expensive sets: It has 3,696 pieces with a working gearbox and moveable pistons, and sells for $559.99. There are plenty of sets available in the pop-up Lego store at the auto show, which also stocks dozens of different Lego vehicle models.
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A one-eighth-scale Technic model of the Lamborghini Sian, which has 3,696 pieces with a working gearbox and moveable pistons, and sells for $559.99.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
There are other life-sized car models made from Lego bricks, but the Lamborghini is one of only two life-sized models made from Lego Technic pieces – the other is a Bugatti Chiron that Mr. Zelinka worked on in 2018, and which was displayed at the Toronto auto show in 2019. That car could actually drive, but the Lego Lamborghini has no working mechanical parts. It has lights and real badges and alloy wheels, but the doors don’t open and while the steering wheel turns, it isn’t connected to the wheels. In fact, the entire model is screwed down to the stand it’s displayed on, and it can only be moved with a fork-lift truck.
So what’s the point?
“It doesn’t work like a car, but it does work in another way,” Mr. Zelinka says. “At places like the auto show, I see people coming with their kids and they get inspired, and I talk to them, and they say, ‘I might go home and try building something like this.’ And maybe there’s a small chance that this will help them get inspired and become designers or engineers themselves.”
The interior of the life-sized Lego Lamborghini Sian FKP 37.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
There are only 63 examples of the real Lamborghini Sian coupe, which was revealed in 2019. It’s the Italian maker’s first hybrid production vehicle and also its final V12-engined vehicle. It produces more than 800 horsepower. The carbon-fibre supercar has a dry weight of 1,695 kilograms, which is about the same as the Lego model removed from its stand.
That seems right – the Lego model shares the same dimensions as the real car, right down to the millimetre. So far, however, Mr. Zelinka thinks he’s the only person who’s noticed the small mistake in the plastic version.
The life-sized Lego Lamborghini Sian FKP 37 with the front brake calipers angled differently than the real car.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
“On the front brake calipers, ours are angled differently,” he says. “On the real car, they’re slanted rearwards and ours are forward.” He thinks this might have happened because the 3-D models of the brake assemblies sent to the Lego designers were accidently flipped.
Still, Mr. Zelinka has an advantage that a Lamborghini technician does not. “If there is a chance, we can absolutely fix this. It’s not glued. It’s not difficult. We can remove the wheel and fix it. I would love to do this, because I’m a perfectionist. If there’s a chance, I’ll have it fixed.”
The Toronto auto show runs until Feb. 26.
Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail