The idea to build a real-size 1:1 Technic version of the Bugatti Chiron originated within the LEGO Technic design team. Designer Aurelien Rouffiange and the team had just completed the 1:8 scale model of the Chiron and began to debate what the ultimate challenge for the LEGO Technic building system would be. A full-size, self-propelled vehicle seemed to provide the toughest test.
If you want to build large-scale models in LEGO® elements, then the place to go is the LEGO facility in Kladno in the Czech Republic. These LEGO designers specialize in creating complex models for LEGO stores and LEGOLAND® parks around the world. If anyone could make this idea a reality, it was them. They quickly put together a core team of 16 specialists, including design, mechanical and electrical experts, and used over 13,000 man hours creating the car piece by piece.
It’s one thing to dream of creating a 1:1 drivable Bugatti Chiron in LEGO Technic, it’s another to make it actually happen. Months of development and testing came to a head in June on the Ehra Lessien test track outside Wolfsburg, Germany – the same track where the original Bugatti Chiron was tested – when we found out if the car would actually drive. We were even more excited when Bugatti’s official test driver and former Le Mans winner, Andy Wallace, agreed to test drive the Technic version of the Chiron on its first drive.