Review: 76906 1970 Ferrari 512 M
Posted by CapnRex101,
76906 1970 Ferrari 512 M continues the diverse collection of classic racing cars which comprises the Speed Champions theme. The flat bodywork associated with this vehicle appears superb and differs completely from existing sets, improving their display value together.
Furthermore, this model includes extraordinary detail across the bodywork, with elaborate intakes and airfoils corresponding with the source material. However, the limited selection of suitable cockpit elements might prove detrimental.
Summary
76906 1970 Ferrari 512 M, 291 pieces.
£19.99 / $19.99 / €24.99 | 6.9p/6.9c/8.6c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
The Ferrari 512 M represents an unusual, but excellent, addition to Speed Champions.
- Accurate bodywork
- Restrained sticker use
- Interesting vehicle choice
- Relatively narrow cockpit
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigure
Ferrari has been represented consistently as Speed Champions has developed, but this driver wears unique racing overalls. These closely resemble the clothing worn by Siegfried Rauch's character during the 1971 film, Le Mans. The red stripes are simple, but correspond with the Ferrari overalls from this period, while the diagonal zips look nice too.
Naturally, the famed Ferrari emblem decorates the torso, beneath a green stripe that denotes Ferrari's Italian identity. The minifigure's white helmet matches the overalls, although I would have preferred a more realistic open-faced helmet. Since an appropriate element remains in production, I am surprised that was not provided.
This minifigure does include an alternative reddish brown hair piece though. Unfortunately, the cockpit canopy cannot actually close over this component, returning to an issue which affected 76895 Ferrari F8 Tributo two years ago.
Reference
Source - Ferrari.com
The Completed Model
Ferrari experienced a passionate racing rivalry with Porsche at the beginning of the 1970s and the Ferrari 512 M played an important role in that rivalry, battling the celebrated Porsche 917K across many endurance events. That vehicle was portrayed in 75876 Porsche 919 Hybrid and 917K Pit Lane during 2016, so provides perfect comparison between scales.
While rarely successful over its rival in reality, the Ferrari is undoubtedly the winner here! The earlier Porsche 917K measures six studs wide and accommodates a minifigure, which affects the proportions of the car's famously low profile. Also, the cockpit was disproportionately large and appears much better, albeit definitely not perfect, on the Ferrari 512 M. Nevertheless, the advantages of the bigger scale are obvious.
The characteristic body shape, common among endurance racing cars during the late 1960s and early 1970s, appears excellent when viewed from either side. The overhanging bodywork behind the rear wheels is beautiful and I love the distinct light bluish grey band along the flanks. However, this perspective also reveals a conspicuous problem.
Printed 1x2 trans-black tiles form the outer sections of both headlights and the red decoration contrasts with the neighbouring parts. While I appreciate the effort to recreate the shape of the headlights faithfully, red 1x2 tiles would suffice. Otherwise, the nose and bonnet look absolutely fantastic, exhibiting realistic curvature alongside accurate grilles over the wheel arches.
Fuel caps are situated behind those grilles, with printed Ferrari symbols on either side. These 1x1 plates have appeared before and this set actually contains six, even though only two are visible. The rest serve as standard 1x1 plates inside the structure! Additionally, the stickered racing numbers look splendid, continuing across the red and light bluish grey bodywork panels.
The cockpit is slightly too narrow when compared with the original car, but no more accurate alternatives are available, so I am satisfied with this element. The printed frame and windows look marvellous, while the interior accommodates one minifigure in the centre. Ideally, the seat would be offset, but I like the dark interior. The dashboard dials are also welcome, behind the steering wheel.
The body widens towards the rear, becoming nine studs wide. That reflects the original Ferrari 512 M and the lights underneath appear excellent too, above twin exhausts. However, among numerous interesting features of this vehicle, the rear wings are especially unusual. They are cleverly secured using trans-clear accessory grips, allowing adjustment and approximating the narrow struts present on this classic car.
Overall
Modern sports cars and supercars remain Speed Champions' primary focus. Historic designs are therefore appealing because they are often completely unique. 76906 1970 Ferrari 512 M definitely satisfies that need and achieves incredible accuracy when compared with the original car, partly because its characteristic square bodywork inherently suits angular LEGO elements.
However, potential for improvement remains. The rear tyres should be considerably larger than those at the front and the cockpit shape is imperfect, although absolute accuracy would require new pieces. Otherwise, this model is excellent and I think the price of £17.99, $19.99 or €19.99 represents fair value, so would definitely recommend the Ferrari 512 M.
137 likes
29 comments on this article
Awesome review and a cool car!
However, we need a Speed Champions model of the most famous racing car in history: Herbie the VW Beetle! (it needs to have a split-apart feature, so it can come in first and third.)
However, if it were to happen, only the first film and possibly the second count. Everything else was ridiculous.... and the modern version doesn't exist. ;-)
@Murdoch17 said:
"Awesome review and a cool car!
However, we need a Speed Champions model of the most famous racing car in history: Herbie the VW Beetle! (it needs to have a split-apart feature, so it can come in first and third.)
However, if it were to happen, only the first film and possibly the second count. Everything else was ridiculous.... and the modern version doesn't exist. ;-)"
I’d buy a Herbie LEGO set in a heartbeat. Even if they did it like the unofficial Bullit Mustang set.
Good review of a very nice set! Just a few small niggles, but overall it's pretty darn good. While the cockpit indeed is a bit too narrow, I'm quite surprised hew well the printed red matches the red plastic. That can't be said about those printed tiles on the headlights, but indeed nothing a few regular red tiles can't solve, to the point that I even wonder why they went for those printed parts. That leaves only the way too narrow rear tires, not much can be done about that. But they nailed so many elements, so this is one I'm certainly gonna get.
From this first 2022 batch, I find this to be the worse. The photo of the real car is nicer than the build, as the car's body looks better in real life. Set has that "look what my kid built" vibe to it, but not as a compliment. Colours are nice, but the body feels off. Mini Figure is great.
Ah, the sides of the headlights are printed trans-black tiles!
I was wondering if these were stickered ones...
Besides that, I think that I will replace them with solid red tiles. When compared with the original, that solution seems even better, although the printed tiles are a nice to have feature.
I remember building something similar to this as a kid (well, as similar as possible). Love how the cockpit looks like a fighter jet. Definite buy.
Thank you^^^^ @Murdoch17 for the callback! Herbie the Love Bug!
Frankly I think it looks kinda perfect. Eye-catching and clean design. Definitely snagging it next week.
@elangab said:
"From this first 2022 batch, I find this to be the worse. The photo of the real car is nicer than the build, as the car's body looks better in real life. Set has that "look what my kid built" vibe to it, but not as a compliment. Colours are nice, but the body feels off. Mini Figure is great."
The real car looks better than the lego built one. Duh.
I think it looks great! Might be the first SC car I buy in years.
I must admit this was the only SC set that I initially didn't like, due to how ugly the back looks. But then I checked out the real car and realised that was just as ugly... so I guess the model's pretty good!
@Murdoch17 said:
"However, we need a Speed Champions model of the most famous racing car in history: Herbie the VW Beetle!"
Oh I'd definitely buy that... It was the first Matchbox car I customised, with red and blue stripes and a number 53!
Found this one (and the Lamborghini) at a local store today. Just finished this build, and it's a great one. I don't have the acceptation, that a model on this scale is 100% correct. But it just looks great. Even the number of stickers is acceptable. Although less stickers would be better.
It's a shame to hear about the canopy oversight, but it's more permissable here since this is clearly a care where you should be wearing a crash helmet at all times.
This is definitely the oddball of the wave, but that's no bad thing at all. It's very striking, and will stand out in the collection.
I’m having trouble thinking of a set that would be better than this for my 4yo boy. …And he’s not even a ‘car’ person. …just the details are right, the looks are retro enough to keep my attention, and the price is a great value. …I’d give this a 9/10 with the only thing that would set this higher would be a custom cockpit. - Really cool set, that I’ll have to start collecting with him soon.
I’ve always liked the older sports cars and this one looks absolutely spectacular. Sadly I’ll have to pass, my OCD prohibits me from mixing sets with different scales.
"Printed 1x2 trans-black tiles form the outer sections of both headlights and the red decoration contrasts with the neighbouring parts. While I appreciate the effort to recreate the shape of the headlights faithfully, red 1x2 tiles would suffice"
100% agree.
This is fantastic. I’m a bloke who gets unashamedly hot under the collar for racing cars from the 60s and 70s, so this is a must-buy.
That comparison photo with the older car model is really quite striking. At first glance I can't even tell they're supposed to be similarly shaped vehicles! These 8-wide sets are a wonderful upgrade
Was happy to find this yesterday at retail. Yes a wider cockpit would be nicer, were an element available, but a more bothersome detail for me is the lack of wheel hubs. The iconic chunky star five-spoke hub began in the mid-60s with the Scuderia team and continued with but minor design changes (other than alloy colour) thru the 80s till the F40. Thus why they wouldn't cast in gold the one similarly appropriate (if not perfect match) set from the four included in 75890 F40 is a baffler. Yes with the pop-on 'alloy' hub element the wheel depth looks shallower than ideal, but that's better (IMO) than a deeper hub that is only the rotors showing!
"Printed 1x2 trans-black tiles form the outer sections of both headlights and the red decoration contrasts with the neighbouring parts. While I appreciate the effort to recreate the shape of the headlights faithfully, red 1x2 tiles would suffice"
Agree in that I wish the printed red colour on the tile matched better, but having built it today, the narrow look the headlight screens get by using a red tile in that spot looks weird in person. Moreso of course when you know the look of the that period of Le Mans, and the Ferrari 512x models in particular. But even without that they look like they're not quite set in the right place otherwise, IMO.
At first, I thought the photo of the real car was another picture of the set. Shows what a good job the designer did.
and add me to the list of people who want a Speed Champions Herbie.
Saw this today at my local Wally-World, and I was TICKED...wanted my Lambo >:((:D)
Oh, re: Herbie...don't know, I do want one, but not SC (kinda' 'muddies' the license/s).
I like the idea of classic Le Manns racing cars but this is an unusual choice, whereas the 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti is far more famous although the curves would be hard to do in Lego at this small scale so maybe this is more distinctive, and a larger scale 1:8 Spider may come along one day in Racer or Technic.
"I like the idea of classic Le Manns racing cars but this is an unusual choice, whereas the 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti is far more famous although the curves would be hard to do in Lego at this small scale so maybe this is more distinctive, and a larger scale 1:8 Spider may come along one day in Racer or Technic."
The 512, though not as iconic in look as the 312 F1-series that emerged a few years earlier, was historically important for Ferrari regaining its name in endurance racing in the early 70s after losses following the heyday of the 250 GTOs in the early 60s. And now in hindsight its look not only works quite well with LEGO blockiness at that scale, but is nice to see this decade represented when more famous and iconic looks and periods have already been represented.
The '57 335 was definitely a nice model though not nearly as influential as the '57 250 TR whose platform went even further to pioneer the dominance of the GTOs in the early 60s. But I'd be happy if either were made!
This feels like a car that belongs in the world of Speed Racer. That’s a good thing to me.
@Lego_lord said:
"I’ve always liked the older sports cars and this one looks absolutely spectacular. Sadly I’ll have to pass, my OCD prohibits me from mixing sets with different scales."
You don't mix breakfast and lunch, but still enjoy both. Just try out the set if you like it. It's not expensive and there is no need to mix it with your older cars ; )
@Lego_lord said:
"I’ve always liked the older sports cars and this one looks absolutely spectacular. Sadly I’ll have to pass, my OCD prohibits me from mixing sets with different scales."
Well, don’t expect to buy any LEGO Speed Champions ever again!!
They aren’t going back to 6-wide!
Maybe time to ditch the old ones?!….
This model has that certain retro-future vibe to it that would be perfect for modifying into someone's own creation: leave off the stickers and swap the driver and you've got something out of a sci-fi movie!
Looks a superb representation of the 512M from Le Mans and the 1971 film. Can we dare to dream that the 917K Porsche 20 from the same film, might be a future release?
The 1995 Harrods-sponsorsed McLaren F1 GTR would be a real coup, as would the Gulf F1 GTR
I'm a huge fan of this set. I love the direction Speed Champions are moving into, they've shifted their paradigm from sets purposefully built for playing experience to building complex and realistic sets. Along with the classic Le mans type of cars, I am equally a fan of their F1 cars with the new Mercedes W12. I hope they continue down that direction as I would really love to see them recreate the McLaren MP4/4 from the 1988 F1 season with a Senna/Prost figure or even the iconic 1982 Porsche 956.