Live at Le Mans: LEGO® Technic™ and PEUGEOT Pulls off 24H Endurance Build Challenge Takes the Chequered Flag

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Image of the big build car, the real hypercar and the product car togehther on the track in Le Mans

Billund/Le Mans - June 10th, 2023: To mark the Centenary of the iconic Le Mans 24-hour race, master LEGO® Technic™ builders and the elite hyper car design team from PEUGEOT Sport have pulled off their biggest challenge to date – scaling up the LEGO Technic PEUGEOT 9x8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar to 11:1 scale… in just 24 hours, live at Le Mans.

It was pedal to the metal for the 12 design, engineering and building experts from the LEGO Group who built throughout the night: It took 626.392 LEGO Technic elements and almost no pit stops – a true feat of endurance.

The finished model features 623 different types of LEGO Technic elements, weights over 900 kg and is a scaled-up replica of the real-life LEGO Technic model: 520 cm long, 220 cm wide and 136 cm high.

night build

The race against time started yesterday at 19:00 CEST when the Le Mans official speaker Anthony Drevet kicked off the challenge at the PEUGEOT Sport stand in the Fan Village right next to the iconic Circuit de la Sarthe. Visitors got to experience the model being assembled live on-site by the 12 LEGO builders.

Usually, large-scale LEGO Technic builds of this size take teams of 8 builders, over 5 months to complete, but the team beat the clock to take poll position at 19:00.

finished build

To make it possible, the team developed a concept for ‘hyper elements’ – upscaled versions of regular LEGO Technic elements made from hundreds of individual LEGO pieces – that was used by master builders for the first time on today.

“Our designers are always ready for the next challenge, but building this iconic model for real certainly pushed their building expertise to the limit” said Joanna Katharina Lazar, Vice President Global Product and Marketing Development at the LEGO Group. “Watching their creativity as they tackled the pioneering build live at Le Mans next to the real model, and hearing the crowd cheering them on was truly a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The challenge really shows that with LEGO Technic and some imagination, you can build anything for real.”

Linda Jackson, CEO of PEUGEOT said: “We have been working closely with LEGO Technic on the PEUGEOT 9X8 and are so happy that it is now available for fans across the world to buy. This weekend, here at Le Mans, are seeing the LEGO Technic PEUGEOT 9X8 come to life in the size of our race car! What a great idea to challenge the team to do it within 24 hours and it was exciting to see the team rise to the challenge.”

Not far from the PEUGEOT stand fans at Le Mans can visit the LEGO shop or explore their love of motorsports at the LEGO Group Experience Zone in the Fan Village. They will have the chance to test their engineering prowess by building and racing their own LEGO car, snap a shot against some amazing LEGO displays built by local fans, and enter competitions to win LEGO sets signed by LEGO Designer, Aurélien Rouffiange.

Notes To Editors

For more information, contact media@lego.com

LEGO Group Experience Zone
At the LEGO Group Experience Zone at Le Mans, fans and families can experience the following activities to immerse themselves into the world of LEGO vehicles with:

  • A corner with iconic LEGO vehicles (LEGO CITY, LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS, LEGO TECHNIC, LEGO NINJAGO).
  • A giant diorama representing 24h Le Mans circuit, created by a local association of Adults Fans of LEGO bricks, Brique Mulsanne
  • Challenges and workshops to build the fastest LEGO car or try the latest LEGO NINJAGO action toys.
  • A photo opportunity with a giant LEGO car made with bricks.
  • Gaming stations to try the new video game LEGO 2K DRIVE.

LEGO Store

  • Not far from the PEUGEOT stand, fans can visit the LEGO Certified pop-up store, in partnership with Percassi.

Big build activation

  • We have upscaled the LEGO Technic PEUGEOT 9x8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar to 11:1 scale… in just 24 hours.
  • We built it live at Le Mans.
  • We built it in 24 hours to celebrate the centenary of the 24H Le Mans.
  • We had 12 builders on site to complete the challenge.
  • We have used hyper elements to make the build possible; this is the first time we have ever used this building technique and the team came up with hyper elements for this challenge.
  • The finished model features 623 different types of LEGO Technic elements, weights over 900 kg and is a scaled-up replica of the real-life LEGO Technic model: 520 cm long, 220 cm wide and 136 cm high.
  • The build consists of 720 hyper elements/626.392 LEGO Technic elements.
  • The average amount of individual Technic elements in 1 hyper element is about 1500-2000.

Product info

  • Name: LEGO® Technic™ PEUGEOT 9X8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar (42156)
  • Age: 18+
  • Measurements: Over 5 in. (13 cm) high, 19.5 in. (50 cm) long and 9 in. (22 cm) wide
  • Pieces: 1,775
  • Price: 199.99€/$199.99/£169.99

The LEGO Technic PEUGEOT 9X8 24H Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar set is available via LEGO Stores and www.LEGO.com and through the PEUGEOT dealership network now.

About the LEGO Group
The LEGO Group’s mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through the power of play. The LEGO System in Play, with its foundation in LEGO bricks, allows children and fans to build and rebuild anything they can imagine.

The LEGO Group was founded in Billund, Denmark in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, its name derived from the two Danish words Leg Godt, which mean “Play Well”.

Today, the LEGO Group remains a family-owned company headquartered in Billund. Its products are now sold in more than 130 countries worldwide. For more information: www.LEGO.com.

About PEUGEOT
PEUGEOT is an inventive premium generalist brand. The Power of ALLURE is its new promise, reflected in each of its models and services. Allure (attractive design), Emotion (instinctive driving pleasure) and Excellence (uncompromising quality and ease of use) are its values. PEUGEOT is present in more than 130 countries and the Brand sold more than 1,050,000 vehicles worldwide in 2022. By 2025, all its models, both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, will be electric. The PEUGEOT E-LION project is a 360° approach to achieving the Zero Carbon goal in 2038. The PEUGEOT 9X8 electrified hypercar demonstrates the Marque's passion for motorsport and is entered in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), including the Le Mans 24 Hours. For more information www.media.stellantis.com/peugeot