Random set of the day: Grand Prix Race
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8161 Grand Prix Race, released in 2008. It's one of 25 Racers sets produced that year. It contains 595 pieces and 7 minifigs, and its retail price was US$59.99/£34.99.
It's owned by 879 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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39 comments on this article
Surprised this hasn’t appreciated in value more. The movie did poorly when it came out but it’s become something of a cult classic.
The set itself looks cool, if a little sticker-heavy.
Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer ...
This was yet another line where Lego provided a merch line for a movie that did not do very well at all. I don't even remember seeing many of these in stores, so I can't imagine they sold very well.
Having said that ... for all its flaws, I LOVED the Speed Racer movie. Absolutely loved it. Enjoyed every single second of it. John Goodman helicopter-spinning a ninja is all I ask for in a movie, and I wasn't disappointed.
"Was that a ninja?"
"More like a non-ja. Terrible what passes for a ninja these days."
are the cars on the boxart supposed to be the ones in the set?
if so... oof
@Zordboy said:
"Having said that ... for all its flaws, I LOVED the Speed Racer movie. Absolutely loved it. Enjoyed every single second of it. John Goodman helicopter-spinning a ninja is all I ask for in a movie, and I wasn't disappointed."
Say what you will about the Wachowskis, but they swing for the fences every single time
60 dollars versus 35 pounds. Exchange rates are crazy.
@legoninjago69 said:
"are the cars on the boxart supposed to be the ones in the set?
if so... oof"
Nah, that’s the Mach 5 and Shooting Star on the box and Mach 6, GRX and Gray Ghost in the set.
Funnily enough, I was just looking to buy this set yesterday. Speed Racer is possibly my favourite film of all time and this set remains the best value for money out of the four sets produced. Additionally, this was the only set of the theme to feature the T-180 type of race car, with the other three featuring rally cars or an incomplete, poorly constructed truck.
It’s honestly a shame they didn’t make more T-180s. I would have loved to see others like Musha Motors or Pitter Pat.
@Mr__Thrawn said: "Say what you will about the Wachowskis, but they swing for the fences every single time"
That scene towards the end? Where Mom Racer tells Speed that watching him drive is like watching someone paint a portrait or create music -- "What you do is beautiful, and inspiring, and everything that art should be" -- makes me tear up, every time. It's so oddly profound.
I have several pages from the instructions.
A odd but enjoyable movie.
@legoninjago69 said:
"are the cars on the boxart supposed to be the ones in the set?
if so... oof"
Not exactly. The two cars on the box art are Speed Racer's Mach 5 and Racer X's car. They're in sets 8158 and 8159 respectively.
The cars in this set are the Mach 6 and two other Grand Prix participants. The Mach 6 has a vastly different body design from the classic Mach 5. It's a single seater used for high-speed tournament racing, while the Mach 5 is a more traditional 2 seater car.
This was one of my all-time favorite movies growing up. I remember going to the theater the day it released, and going back to see it a 2nd time the very next day. I've never done that for any other movie in my life; even 2014's Lego Movie I waited a couple days before my 2nd viewing. There was so much to Speed Racer for young me to take in that I just had to see it again.
I also played the accompanying video game for Nintendo Wii a TON. The game had an incredibly unique stunt mechanic called "Car-Fu" that allowed the cars to combat each other using some of the spectacular car acrobatics demonstrated in the film, all controlled by Wii remote movements. It was a really unique and fun game mechanic, one I've never seen in any other racing game to this day.
@MrBob said:
" @legoninjago69 said:
"are the cars on the boxart supposed to be the ones in the set?
if so... oof"
Not exactly. The two cars on the box art are Speed Racer's Mach 5 and Racer X's car. They're in sets 8158 and 8159 respectively.
The cars in this set are the Mach 6 and two other Grand Prix participants. The Mach 6 has a vastly different body design from the classic Mach 5. It's a single seater used for high-speed tournament racing, while the Mach 5 is a more traditional 2 seater car.
This was one of my all-time favorite movies growing up. I remember going to the theater the day it released, and going back to see it a 2nd time the very next day. I've never done that for any other movie in my life; even 2014's Lego Movie I waited a couple days before my 2nd viewing. There was so much to Speed Racer for young me to take in that I just had to see it again.
I also played the accompanying video game for Nintendo Wii a TON. The game had an incredibly unique stunt mechanic called "Car-Fu" that allowed the cars to combat each other using some of the spectacular car acrobatics demonstrated in the film, all controlled by Wii remote movements. It was a really unique and fun game mechanic, one I've never seen in any other racing game to this day."
wow. clearly, i know nothing about this theme. funnily enough, i used to have some not lego toy cars that i am only now realizing is from this.
might watch, many people seem to enjoy it.
I never saw the movie and I don't own this or any other Speed Racer sets, but... As a child, I was a big fan of the original Speed Racer cartoon of the 60s. (Hence my lack of understanding of VIDIYO despite wishing the project well). Speed, Trixie, the mysterious Racer X, and the mischievous Chim Chim all choreographed a tantalizing story of speed, thrills, danger, and intrigue around the racing of the wondrous Mach 5. For its time, the animation was beautiful and the story line complex and adult enough, without scintillation, to captivate childhood attention. I am almost motivated to buy the DVD of the original cartoon and at least one of the sets.
I've never seen Speed Racer nor do I really plan too, but back in the day this set still caught my eye. I wonder if the success of the Speed Champions line will ever convince LEGO to give it another shot
When I finally watched Speed Racer a couple years ago I was disappointed that the LEGO line didn't lean into all the wacky business the cars in that movie have going on. I understand not being able to approximate the curves of those cars very well with the limited palette of curved slopes available in 2008, but (for example) one of the cars in the movie has a catapult that throws whole beehives at its opponents. That's crying out to be an action feature in a LEGO set!
Should this set and others from the Speed Racer theme be under the Racers umbrella? Shouldn't the Speed Racer licensed film sets be under their own category @Huw?
I wonder how many copies of 3177 you could park on top of these aircraft car-iers.
@Mr__Thrawn:
Stee-rike!
@MrBob:
Car-Fu? So not helping...
I never knew before today that Chim-Chim was represented by a regular Lego monkey . . .
I think when movie sets don't fit with regular Lego universe they have higher probability yo fail. The cars look good but you cannot use them with your regular Lego City sets, or even Speed Champions sets (Well, maybe you can, now that they are 8 studs wide).
This Theme is one of three times, the other two were Lone Ranger and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, when LEGO made a line better than the film it was based on.
I mean, sure it’s flawed, but these Speed Racer sets weren’t terrible. This one was probably the best of them.
I think I mentioned it to another Lego fan in the real world, but I'm fairly certain that the Lego Speed Racer sets changed the way that Lego created car sets.
Looking at the other similarly-scaled car sets in the Racers and Creator themes, prior to 2007-2008 almost every car features the wheels sticking out the sides of the body. Compare 2005's 4883 Gear Grinders with the 2008 Mach 5 in 8158. Around the time these sets showed up, Lego started featuring cars with proper fenders. Just look at late 2008's 8634 Turbocar Chase, 2010's 5867 Super Speeder, and 2013's 31006 Highway Speedster.
Sets like 4939 Cool Cars started showing better car building techniques, but it wasn't until Speed Racer showed up that most of our modern Lego car parts and practices started showing up.
Regret not buying any speed racer sets
Why do they have pink skin? Is that a licensed set?
@Yooha said:
"Why do they have pink skin? Is that a licensed set?"
Yes, it's from the Speed Racer movie, based on the anime of the same name.
My brother picked this set up on deep discount at the end of its life (though still more expensive than the US RRP, naturally...), and I inherited it when he lost interest in Lego. The stickers have really not aged well, most of them have completely decayed. And this set has a.... lot... of stickers.
Funnily enough, the same day he bought it was the only time I ever saw 10179 in store, and it was similarly discounted. I mean being 11 years old at the time I obviously couldnt have bought it, but still... what a missed opportunity.
@TheWackyWookiee said: "This Theme is one of three times, the other two were Lone Ranger and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, when LEGO made a line better than the film it was based on."
Oh, no arguments there. The Constitution Train chase from the Lone Ranger line is one of the best train sets that Lego has ever produced. It's a beautiful, beautiful Western-themed set.
Those minifigs look terrible. I guess by this time, Lego still hadn't completely shaken off that early 2000s jank...
I know nothing about the Speed Racer movie or the 60's cartoon that apparently inspired it, would anyone here care to explain to me what exactly is it all about? I might watch the movie, people here seem to be very fond of it.
I recently had 8158 returned to me, unexpectedly. I will need to build it soon, hopefully all the pieces are in the badly damaged box. When I purchased it back in the day, I debated between it and 8161. The budget won and I opted for 8158 being the cheaper set and it had the Mach 5, which I really liked. Seeing this set as a random set is another reminder of those days and to build 8158!
@LegoDavid said:
"I know nothing about the Speed Racer movie or the 60's cartoon that apparently inspired it, would anyone here care to explain to me what exactly is it all about? I might watch the movie, people here seem to be very fond of it. "
Racing cars. Speed Racer is a racing driver who races against "baddies" (in the Movie it is Corporations that control racing) and Racer X is his mystery masked ally. It is one of my favourite films and people may dunk on it, but it was quite influential on contemporary cinema as one of the main storyboard artists who worked on the film went on to work on Iron Man.
I have all the sets as I loved Speed Racer from watching cartoons as a child and I adored the film right from the get-go. I still have the cars built (never taken apart) and sure, it is sticker heavy but being as I was an AFOL when I got the set, the stickered parts I have are still in excellent condition.
The LEGO Group really should pair up with the United Nations Military Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, they are exquisitely adept as sniffing out bombs to base sets on.
Speed Racer is possibly the only time Lego ever (indirectly) adapted an anime!
And if you've never seen the anime... the movie wasn't far off in adapting the wackyness IMHO :)
Speed Racer (2008) is one of those films that are so over the top that it loops back into being great! It took years for me to get around to watching it, so I was quite surprised to see the sets' weird portrayal of the source material. The Speed Racer film universe is like World Racers (the 2010 theme) in that there are hidden weapons and projectiles everywhere, whereas the lego version of the cars have none (except the Crucher Block truck). It really shows how far lego still had to go to include shooting functions in system sets. The flick fire missle only debuted in the same year, and the 1x4 bolt launcher brick and stud shooters wouldn't appear until 2014!
At the time, only the Cruncher Block truck would have been big enough to fit them, or you had to remove the entire front just to fit the competition launcher like in the Batmobile of set 7781-1 from 2006.
@david_m77 said:
"I think I mentioned it to another Lego fan in the real world, but I'm fairly certain that the Lego Speed Racer sets changed the way that Lego created car sets.
Looking at the other similarly-scaled car sets in the Racers and Creator themes, prior to 2007-2008 almost every car features the wheels sticking out the sides of the body. Compare 2005's 4883 Gear Grinders with the 2008 Mach 5 in 8158 . Around the time these sets showed up, Lego started featuring cars with proper fenders. Just look at late 2008's 8634 Turbocar Chase, 2010's 5867 Super Speeder, and 2013's 31006 Highway Speedster.
Sets like 4939 Cool Cars started showing better car building techniques, but it wasn't until Speed Racer showed up that most of our modern Lego car parts and practices started showing up."
There were wheel arches in the City theme since 2005 (part 50745), and in the same year a larger arch (50967) debuted in the Enzo Ferrari (set 8652-1).
But otherwise, Speed racers introduced a phletora of parts now indisposable to car building, especially the 6 long wheel arch 62361, the 4x1 curved slope (61678) and the curved 6-wide windscreen (62360).
Is it bad that I kinda want this? I haven't seen the movie, just seems like a fun set.
@LegoDavid said:
"I know nothing about the Speed Racer movie or the 60's cartoon that apparently inspired it, would anyone here care to explain to me what exactly is it all about? I might watch the movie, people here seem to be very fond of it. "
I’ve never watched the anime, but the film is an incredibly entertaining watch. The cinematography is amazing, just take this scene for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgVAZsKvjD8
Personally I enjoyed every single moment of the film, though I understand the bold, saturated style doesn’t work for some people.
@david_m77:
Aside from generic curved slopes, I don’t think SR introduces a single element that I would consider to be essential for building minifig-scale cars. I had all I needed to get started by 2006.
@peppermintmecha:
You’re assigning cause where coincidence is more likely. Unless that person learned how to storyboard on this movie, it’s the person influencing the look of both movies, not one movie influencing the look of the other.
@Binnekamp:
I have almost no interest in anime, and Speed Racer didn’t even merit watching a whole episode to earn a thumbs down. Clearly all they had to do to foil every nefarious plot is ban racing, since nobody could seem to come up with an evil scheme that didn’t hinge on winning an auto race. And then the impression I got from the movie trailers was that someone took the old cartoon, a pinball game, and prodigious amounts of hallucinogens and put them all in a blender and left it running overnight.
I don’t think I’ve ever used the 6L fender on any cars, unless I did something like the Vintage Car GWP where it was used as I part of the grille. There’s room for two wheels under that thing, and it doesn’t blend into the rest of the car body. The windshield you mention, I used on two Batmobiles, but on a civilian vehicle the only thing the driver could see through it is the hood of the car.
Thank you for the video clip, I see the inspiration behind the Lego vehicles now but they could have made generic and avoided licensing to reduce the cost as 3 vehicles plus commentator stand for $60 seems a bit expensive for a film no-one knows about outside the US.
Yet another comment to let everyone know this movie is criminally underrated! I didn't see the movie until after the sets were long from store, but maybe one day I'll have a Lego Mach 5.
??
@ambr:
I believe this was the first film the Wachowskis did after finishing the Matrix trilogy, so it’s not understandable that many people expected this to be the next Star Wars. I was not one of them. I asked myself when was the last time people were really into Speed Racer. And I answered myself, before you were born, I think.
@The_Byzantine_Knight:
It probably didn’t seem as risky as you think. Crystal Skull came out after the backlash against the Prequel Trilogy hit full steam, so George Lucas couldn’t mow his own lawn without websites popping up to rant about what a terrible job he did. Iron Man was being released by a startup movie studio owned named after a comic book company that had only avoided going under by, first, selling the film rights to any halfway desirable title in their stable (and Iron Man was one of the characters nobody wanted), and, second, by selling their entire company to Disney. Furthermore, the star of this modestly-budgeted flick was a washed up has-been who had been in and out of rehab so many times for drug and alcohol addiction, that attaching his name to a film made it almost impossible to insure (I think they had to jump through some weird hoops to even make that one film happen). Frankly, at that time, the two most bankable names on that cast list were Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow.
@Spartan_Ghost:
See, but I can actually understand the logic for Pokémon (even if I cringe at the thought of watching it). They’re collecting little super-powered monsters. Get enough of them, and you’ve got the makings of an army at your beck and call. They live in little baseballs, so it would be easy to smuggle them into a country and unleash them anywhere.
@PurpleDave said:
" @david_m77:
Aside from generic curved slopes, I don’t think SR introduces a single element that I would consider to be essential for building minifig-scale cars. I had all I needed to get started by 2006.
@peppermintmecha:
You’re assigning cause where coincidence is more likely. Unless that person learned how to storyboard on this movie, it’s the person influencing the look of both movies, not one movie influencing the look of the other.
This one came from an actual academic breakdown I read, sadly it was in print media and I can't find the source. But seeing as you want to rain on every parade, it looks like it wouldn't count for much if I could find it."