2018 Speed Champions Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[Johnny1360]

Just finished building the Mustang, despite all my grumbling about it's looks, I must say it turned out looking pretty damn good. As it happens more often than not, the physical model looks way better than pictures. 

Also I managed to ace the sticker placement, yay. Like the way the tail lights look as well, even though the connection is a bit fragile. The whole front dog house doesn't look near as comical as the pictures made it look either. 

Good set, glad I bought it, now on with the Fiesta WRC. Woot

[AllanSmith]

Hi have just finished the Mustang too, without the stickers. Showed it to my non LEGO partner without her seeing the rear printed round tile and she guessed it was a Mustang. In real life it does look better than the pictures. 

[Johnny1360]

Just got done with the Fiesta, really thought it was a great build, I hope the rest of the Speed Champions sets are this good as well. A lot of interesting shaping in such a small set, especially liked the way the front was done and the whole wing section. 

If you don't like stickers, don't get this set, a whooping 36 for 203 pieces and like most of the Speed Champions it looks best with the stickers. 

Looking forward to getting the rest of the sets now, in a few more weeks, can't spend all my money on Lego. 

[FerRory]

On 01/03/2018 at 9:23 PM, vectormatic said:

 

I just wish lego would get their distribution here in the netherlands under control, SC sets have been available in neighbouring countries for about a week, but i cant find them anywhere over here, and probably wont for another week, the big news is that the technic sets from january are finally showing up in shops consistently...

 

Wednesday I found them at the Intertoys in Eindhoven, seems Brickfever and A-Tembo have it on stock now, A-Tembo is today open if I remember correctly. I got all Speed Champions sets yesterday from a small internetshop.

LEGO has the distribution under control in The Netherlands, they are released on release date which is what LEGO wants, but not what we want.

Edited March 4, 2018 by FerRory
Mention distribution.

[Vectormatic]

5 hours ago, FerRory said:

Wednesday I found them at the Intertoys in Eindhoven, seems Brickfever and A-Tembo have it on stock now, A-Tembo is today open if I remember correctly. I got all Speed Champions sets yesterday from a small internetshop.

LEGO has the distribution under control in The Netherlands, they are released on release date which is what LEGO wants, but not what we want.

I found the 911 set at intertoys in utrecht, but that was all they had from the theme, in an XL shop! Maybe it is intertoys who are the problem, distribution wise... Its rather annoying that they are the only option when it comes to physical shops.

 

Either way, ive got the 919 and 488GT3 underway from Bol, could have had them yesterday, but another item in the same order is delaying things, not a big deal.

[wilson3a10]

Found all the new sets in Toysrus and other local shops

[AllanSmith]

LEGO has produced a couple of videos. I love the police car scene in the Porsche video.

 

Enjoy :)

 

[bj51]

Very nice spots !

I'm hoping to find the new sets today at my local Toys'r'us, as I need that Fiesta for parts already...

[Vectormatic]

Cool videos!

I put together the 919 and 488 a few days ago, and i really like them. There are some minor nigles (the 488's nose looks a bit too long, the wheelbase is actually a stud shorter then the 458, and they've taken the length out of the rear, the 919s nose is a bit weak structurally), but still among my favorites of the theme

[Immo]

Got myself the Mustang last week and, just like most people, I'll be ordering 4 dark green 2x1 tiles and two black connectors to remove the white streak from the side. Don't like the stickers (aside from the obligatory grille Pony) and in my set they were cut askew, which was triggering me so much.
The only flaw (which I can't seem to find a way to cope with anyway) I see is the lack of the side louvers which all the 1st gen Fastback Mustangs had. Other than that, it's a great mode, one of the coolest ones in the line. Love how easily it can be turned into a Coupe, Convertible or upgraded to Shelby spec.

Unfortunately, that's about it for me when it comes to 2018 Speed Champions sets. Not a fan of non-American cars, though I must admit the lime green 911 looks neat.

Edited March 13, 2018 by Immo

[Hod Carrier]

I'm not really a set builder, but I did pick up the Mustang, Fiesta WRC and Porsche 919 at the weekend from my local supermarket. I'd been toying with the idea of getting involved with the Speed Champs theme for a while but nothing had tickled my fancy before.

I have to say that the Mustang is my new favourite thing. It looks cool and the colours are great, and I even applied the stickers (got to love those gold stripes on green and black). Given the limitations imposed by using LEGO bricks I think they've done a great job of capturing the shapes of the original. If anything some of the details, like the tail lights, could have ended up as a sticker, but they've actually bothered to design them to be built in brick!! I'm not at all disappointed with it.

All three sets were satisfying to build, and I guess it's unavoidable that racing cars will require a whole load of stickers. But taking my time to ensure that they were all correctly positioned paid dividends and all three models look very sharp. If I had to make any criticism it would be that the proportions of the Fiesta are wrong, but apart from that the essence of the car is still there.

Will I be buying more Speed Champs sets...? Quite probably.

[Vectormatic]

19 hours ago, Blk69 said:

Ok so want your thoughts.  How many Speed Champion sets can you justify owning if you don't have a race track in your city?  I only ask this as I have a race track (simple oval, 8 base plates) and own 5 Speed Champions cars.  I am really resisting the urge to purchase more as I don't have enough space to display more.  Think I am going to limit myself to one set per year.  If I knew the series was ending soon would buy them all.  If it goes on forever, going to have to build a bigger basement!

I dont have a race track, i dont even have a city setup (just some of the smaller city race cars and some cool planes), but i have most of the SC cars, i have them on display with some technic race cars and the expert creator F-40

 

But onto your situation, on an 8 baseplate oval, im thinking any more then 6-8 cars on display at any one time would feel cramped, but that shouldnt be a limit. Personally, if i had a track i would put together a race (either in progress or lined up on the grid) of cars which all fit together in one class, say a bunch of GT3s (the 2015 911 GT3 Hybrid, the 2016 R8 GTLM, the 2017 AMG and the 2018 488GT3 for instance) or a WEC/Le-mans race, and just put the other cars somewhere else. The american muscle stuff would lend itself very well to setting up a drag race, either with a strip, or just an illegal street drag race somewhere in your city. The expensive hypercars (LaFerrari, the McLarens, Porsche 918 and the Bugatti) would make very good inventory for a car showroom/dealer type building

The american muscle stuff and the classic cars, like this years 911 Turbo also work just fine as regular traffic in your city, only the actual race cars need to be confined to the track

[Kape H2O]

Since im saving up for other stuff, i have Limited myself to one set. In The beginning i was thinking of buying the mustang, but now im leaning more to the 919 

[Kjellevirus]

On 23-3-2018 at 3:03 AM, Blk69 said:

Ok so want your thoughts.  How many Speed Champion sets can you justify owning if you don't have a race track in your city?  I only ask this as I have a race track (simple oval, 8 base plates) and own 5 Speed Champions cars.  I am really resisting the urge to purchase more as I don't have enough space to display more.  Think I am going to limit myself to one set per year.  If I knew the series was ending soon would buy them all.  If it goes on forever, going to have to build a bigger basement!

Don't think this series willend anytime soon. They are proven to be very popular. So if you don't include them in your city layout, it is only a matter of making more display space. 

[Vectormatic]

2 hours ago, Blk69 said:

Question, as you own most of the sets.  I was going to buy 75887 919 hybrid but it looks so close to the Audi R18.  I know they are different vehicles, but the colors and shapes are very close.  Do you display them both at the same time?

Are you planning on getting both 488 GT3 sets (red one stand alone, the blue/red in the large set).  Only ask as suspect the series will start to repeat itself a bit.  Not sure how I'm going to address re-releases.

 

Right, some more info

 

I have an ikea kallax 4x4 shelving unit, the entire top row is dedicated to speed champions, currently i have thing organised by brand, so the 1st box is all ferrari, 2nd is porsche, 3rd is McLaren, Bugatti, Audi and Merc (basically all euro which arent porsche/ferrari), box 4 is american stuff, so ford, chevrolet and corvette.

This means my R18 and 919H dont sit next to each other, so that is one factor. Second, the current 919 is a LOT better then the old one, and the R18 as well, more details and accuracy etc.. They are still relatively close in terms of shape/colours, but as a fan of le-mans stuff, they are easily distinguishable to me, so id be fine putting them next to each other (I had them arranged by theme previously, so all le-mans cars grouped, my only gripe there is that the current 919H never raced that particular R18)

As for the 488s, i already have the standalone GT3, the blue/red one in the large set is a GTE, and ill be skipping it. Not because i dont want doubles, but because a) i think the set is just a tad too expensive, im not OK with spending €110 for just three cars and b) I have issues with all three cars in the set, the 488GTE specifically looks like a mess in terms of coloured bricks, while the standalone 488GT3 looks amazing. As for the other two cars, i dont like the 312T4, i would have loved a 312T2, but i dont see an easy way to mod the T4 to a T2, and the 250GTO has some construction gaps around the rear.

And the 488s bring me to re-releases, in the real world the 488 is very close to the 458GT2 which was in wave 1, but the building technique lego uses has evolved so much, that the 458GT2 and the 488GT3 are still very different cars, much in the same way the year 2 919H and current 919H are miles apart, so i have no problem with getting updated versions of relatively similar real world cars.

 

One thing i want to mention to further clarify my position, if Lego were to put extra stickers in some of the race car sets (the current 919H has a #2 car number, i would love to also have #1), i would be perfectly fine with buying several of the same sets to complete a racing team. I also debated getting a second AMG GT3 to make a road version, but got sidetracked. I do have a second Bugatti Chiron (got it as a gift), which i swapped to red/black instead of blue/black, and i dont mind it at all. As long as there is some difference between cars in my collection, ill happily buy more of them (provided the price is right, and the model has no glaring issues)

[Vectormatic]

thats a cool track! i wish i had the space to set one up

[AllanSmith]

My Speed Champions sets will be displayed on 28 of the large 48 stud by 48 stud base plates. 14 at the front for the 4 lane roadway and 14 at the back for associated buildings like drive in movies, showroom, workshop, service station etc. Just waiting on 7 more base plates to arrive at the local toy shop. Layout will fit on 3 folding trestle tables making it 5.4 metres x 0.76 metre.

[Lawndart]

7 hours ago, AllanSmith said:

My Speed Champions sets will be displayed on 28 of the large 48 stud by 48 stud base plates. 14 at the front for the 4 lane roadway and 14 at the back for associated buildings like drive in movies, showroom, workshop, service station etc. Just waiting on 7 more base plates to arrive at the local toy shop. Layout will fit on 3 folding trestle tables making it 5.4 metres x 0.76 metre.

Looking forward to seeing that. Sounds cool. 

[Dorino]

I tried 75884 in red, had to replace some parts, looks "okay"
 

 

[imvanya]

Apparently, LEGO built a life-size version of the 75888 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0

 

[Lawndart]

I need more speed champions... any hint or suggestion at another set or series of sets still in 2018? Sorta like they did with McLaren 570 last year?

[Johnny1360]

I have to say the 2018 Speed Champions are some of my favorites of the series so far, only have 5 of this year's sets though. 

As much as I like them though, I am glad they don't really make more each year. It's great to be able to complete a whole series every year of a theme, without having to buy 20 or 30 sets a year or more. 

[Anonknee Muss]

Is Lego and Argos literally the only places you can buy them in the UK this year?

[Lawndart]

How interesting that the entire “Friends” series this year is all about go kart racing. I wonder what marketing data suggested that? Not a single veterinarian or pony stable. 

Id have loved all these in the city or speed champions theme. 

[OpenBagTwo]

23 hours ago, Lawndart said:

How interesting that the entire “Friends” series this year is all about go kart racing. I wonder what marketing data suggested that? Not a single veterinarian or pony stable. 

Id have loved all these in the city or speed champions theme. 

First off, they've obviously done the vet / equestrian sub-themes already. Secondly I'm pretty sure I've read that the gender breakdown for junior karting leagues is a lot more even than pro motorsports as a whole. But also, this isn't too big a departure for the Friends line--they've always featured awesome roadsters and sports cars.