PH has some history when it comes to getting Lego builds into the shop. A decade ago the Caterham from Carl Greartrix was approved by Lego, following a campaign of support from PistonHeads readers. It’s really heartening, in fact, to look back on the story progressing from the early days on Lego Ideas to Caterham’s involvement, to PHers building a Lego Caterham they’ve bought from John Lewis. Anything’s possible with sufficient people power…
Now there’s another Lego build that absolutely deserves some attention. This is the Renault 5 Turbo 3E, built by engineer Dave Collins and, well, look at it – it’s brilliant. Where a few officially sanctioned Lego kits can’t quite capture the essence of the real car, this nails it. There’s a good reason for that, too. Dave said of his work: “Angular cars are easier to do in Lego, so the R5 was a natural choice. Plus it looks great, and it’s immediately recognisable as an update of the eighties classic. I’ve certainly tried to race a few off the lights in my youth.” Top man. Renault points to the ‘exaggerated stance, aggressive proportions and unmistakable silhouette that define the R5T3E’, and how they’ve made it into brick form.
Having begun making his own Lego designs during lockdown, the Renault is said to have taken Dave around 100 hours over three months and used 1,200 pieces. Not the work of a moment, for sure. On his Lego Ideas page, he added that the Turbo 3E, like so many big builds, had to be accommodated around other commitments. “I think that’s how I have got the details and dimensions right, by having the model on view and constantly spotting bits that needed improvement.” It’s built to approximately 1:12 scale, with the sticker drawn manually in AutoCAD and printed on adhesive sheet. It looks fit for any mantelpiece right away.
But there’s some way to go yet. As with the Caterham, the Lego Ideas petition for Dave’s Turbo 3E must reach 10,000 signatures before it’s considered by the company for production. Things are going very well for the moment, with more than 2,000 supporters, if still clearly needing a few more thousand to get across the line. Which PH is more than capable of, is it not? We’ll have Dave and his Renault to 10k in no time…