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[00:00] This is your LEGO Technic 1H scale McLaren P1. It's a worthy addition to the Technic Ultimate series of cars, and it's the reason my new least favorite LEGO piece is the 45-degree bone gear. This car, too, just over two feet long, is another beautiful blend of form meets function,

[00:14] including plenty of those Technic features we've come to expect, so much needs in fun new ways, all while looking great on the outside, and doing its best impression of one of the most beloved hyper cars of our generation. And that's the Seated-by-An Impressor, that incredibly involved build,

[00:26] and we'll talk about each of these aspects of this set today. Real question, does this bill do justice to this iconic design to a reviewer with a discerning eye? I don't know. I don't have one, but I'll let you know if I meet one who does. Also, worry not if you feel this tone of positive hyperbole won't offer any honest opinion.

[00:41] I've literally had the subtitled details section of this video as the nitpicking portion. First, some quick set details. This one was released in August 2024. It's the largest of these large Technic cars that are over 3,800 pieces, and it costs the equally large $450 US.

[00:55] But it will eventually go on sale, and then it will be much more expensive after it retires. if the past is any indication. For those unfamiliar, this car is part of one of LEGO's largest regular Technic releases, and this is a fifth of these 1.8-scale supercars which have been coming out every two years.

[01:08] If you're not a regular Technic builder or have stumbled here purely as a McLaren fan, one, you're in a good place because LEGO and McLaren go together like Volcano, Yellow, and P1. And two, words, one, the construction of this scale of set

[01:20] can be a bit of a pain, literally and figuratively, but we'll go over some of the fun and impressive parts of that build in a second. But before we do, So if you take issue with my purposely oversimplified description of this set, please feel free to jump to any of these timestamps so you can find a more specific reason why my opinions are interested.

[01:38] This enactedly designed box almost makes you not want to open this set, but the card's completion is contingent on taking that first step. That is the first step of exactly 1,000 steps, broken up between two beautiful and informative instructions booklets, further breaking the bill down to three boxes of parts, broken into 23 numbered, so-plastic bags,

[01:54] going through all 3,893 pieces, with over a third of those pieces being painfully pushed in ten. But the pain in hours are worth it, because you get to build cool stuff, like rear axles that only actually use a few axle pieces.

[02:06] Too early to be exhausted. Exhaust a working seven-speed gearbox, as first, using way more axles than either axle. There's axle rows, keeping the rubber bands together. Welcome to the jungle that is this gearbox.

[02:18] Pay attention to these steps, especially those involving these new drum shifter elements, but don't invite Steven Adler to play them. He's unreliable. Built an eight-cylinder engine, an electric engine somewhere in there. This clutch will come in handy later.

[02:30] Built some seats, some semi-reliable paddle shifters. Cannibalizer McLaren Santa to replace a missing piece that you'll later find on the floor. Feels like we're trading up. Check out these sweet-dye usual door mechanisms. He bends up because this is taking too long.

[02:43] Front axle, front diffusers, front headlights. Realize you're actually missing an important piece of the headlights? Lego missing piece Storm says it will take several weeks to arrive. No worries, it's available in one other set right now. unless I want to wait out our friend Peelybone.

[02:55] But no, no, not for me. So the jungle, it is. Ah, refreshing. Cute baby tacks. Headlights, done. Double dihedral doors. Rear clamshell, retractable rear wing, rear wheel, and front wheels.

[03:07] And here's your sign that this build is complete. Easy as banana cream pie. See how's that, Peelybone? Here in Texas, we like to drive to steer. Here on the Sinclair Inn, we like to steer our drives

[03:19] using this functional steering, which is actually a really common feature among technical vehicles these days. No, that is not technical here, but that shouldn't stop you from digging into this right nozzle to open the hood. This encouraging bar offers its support,

[03:31] revealing a small storage space and an unbranded bag because the owner sent all of their money on the car itself I was going to give this next feature to myself but that would have been selfish of me because this entire rear clamshell is removable Aw shucks

[03:43] This gives a great view of the internals of this car, especially full transparency, the engine, gear assembly, and phew, that exhaust. And speaking of that engine, earlier I said this car was a hybrid of form and function. It's also literally a hybrid of an electric engine and a conventional one,

[03:58] though some prefer a conventional one. Behold, all eight V-cylinders with pistons, I call this one Isaiah Thomas, and a couple of Weasley twin turbos. Honestly, I don't think Lego will even consider making anything that isn't at least a hybrid at this point. If they're ever forced to make a fully combustion engine again,

[04:12] that'll be the day they finally bring paper bags to the U.S. just to offset those emissions. I think this drum element represents where its electric obligatory boogie-woogie-woogie This electric engine boost can be deployed by a button on the steering wheel labeled I-PASS, standing for Instant Power Assist System.

[04:26] Much like that on an F1 car, but I like to think of it as the button that you push before you pass another car, because when you push it, you say, I pass. But if you think saying I pass will gain favor with Professor J, you should have thought about that before you got so many suspensions.

[04:38] In this case, one spring for each wheel. And I can't resist building a suspension suspense, but... It works quite well during these new, larger springs.

[04:51] Let's bounce back towards that transmission where my gears start to grind. Literally and figuratively, because I got some stinking gears, but the problem is inconsistent, intermittent, and inconsequential enough to not worry about.

[05:03] Yet, let's spend the next three minutes talking about it. I don't want to detract from this impressive gearbox. When that clutch is center, we're in neutral gear. No engine movement when the wheels roll. When the clutch is in back, that's E mode only.

[05:15] Just as electric gears are operating, no piston movement, offense, or defense. When the clutch is in back, that's hybrid mode. All the gears are moving, the shifting is enabled, and that's where things get stiffy. This new-ish drum shipper element works well, from what I can tell, again, tamping through this part in the instructions.

[05:29] We've got a slightly new differential, which feels redundant to say, but I suspect it's these new 45-degree bone gears that have boned me. This car has a working 7-speed transmission, which means were he shifting via rocker piles next to the steering wheel.

[05:41] I know, it's sorcery, but that shifting is slightly different than that on previous builds. And, while I'll never criticize innovation, innovation should be for the sake of improvement, and of that fact, I am not yet convinced.

[05:53] from these previous big impressive cars shifting and moving that volume gear 90 degrees per gear. With this new gear, we only have to move 45 degrees per shift, and while this gives us eight positions for one full rotation, hence seven gears plus neutral, the tolerances are halved,

[06:06] and so the slightest bump can put you in seventh or neutral, which makes a big difference when you're on the 408 merging onto the 12, you know what I mean? I'm not going to blame that entirely. There's a very real chance I did something slightly wrong.

[06:18] a chance, Jovi shoved the Rubik's Cube Mickey a little too roughly against the paddle shifters, but the fact that the shifting works most of the time makes me think that my build is correct, but the end result is just a little finicky. I'll let's be just again though, I think the shifting

[06:31] is less intuitive than it should be if we follow the basic principle that with a constant wheel speed, the slowest piston movement speed should correspond to the highest gear, which means first gear is the one where the pistons move the fastest with the fewest wheel rotations. Therefore, pulling

[06:46] Coming back on the right paddle actually shifts down, which isn't what happens in the real car. I'm going to attribute this inaccuracy to the fact that in the real car each paddle is operated separately, so pulling one doesn't push the other, so maybe we just have to push on the right paddle to shift up,

[07:00] but it still feels more natural for the laws of the universe to pull on the right to go up, whereas left means down, dogs are always boys, cats are girls, and rats are mice, but just outside. Let close the window on these engine issues and open the door to new possibilities namely these dihedral doors These dying people doors open and close at a touch They got a huge arrow hole through the middle of them I love to see the size of that bow

[07:22] Dihedral, of course, means moving along two plain faces. In this case, up and out. But personally, my favorite two plain faces are these two, taking that highway in the skyway to the danger zone. Though these doors are not entirely intuitive,

[07:34] I had to explain the whole system to my 18-month-old daughter. Open up, not out. This next portion will be spoiler-free, I promise, because this spoiler is included with this set at no extra charge. That real spoiler raises 30 centimeters, and the downforce it exerts is equivalent to that

[07:47] of a small elephant standing on the back of the car. So we try not to talk about him when he's in the room, especially the fact that when you eat him, it will be one bite at a time. My favorite is to have the car in aero mode, where that spoiler is slightly raised.

[07:59] This mode is fastest in a straight line, so named because it's best used when driving as straight as an aero. Also, I wrote those two aero lines weak apart from each other, proving that I've run out of originality in that time. Good, we got those volume and complex

[08:13] Technic functions out of the way. Now for the fun part. Theorizing. Why did LEGO choose the McLaren P1 as their next Ultimate Series car? To appreciate this choice, I think we have to appreciate this car's linking legacy because it came out over 10 years ago.

[08:25] When it came out, McLaren said, the purpose of the P1 is to show the industry what the future of performance could look like. 10 years ago. I'm adding that part. Though I guess the 10-year anniversary is as good a reason as any to make this car.

[08:37] Also, I think it really helps that this car isn't from one of the previous Ultimate Series manufacturers, and it would look good in a car that hasn't also been already used by any previous Ultimate Series car. That's more important than you would think. But here's the kicker. The P1 actually stands up by modern standards, in both form and function. It was actually ahead of its

[08:53] time. P1 often refers to being first on the grid, which makes it an easy connection to F1, that one, and its spiritual successor to the F1, that one. This car was and is incredibly desirable, and part

[09:05] that desirability comes from the fact that only 375 of these were ever made. At the time they were released, they were over 800,000 pounds. That's a heavy price tag, Doc. They're worth way more than that now. The release of this model was also a little drawn out. We knew this was going to be a

[09:19] McLaren before we knew which McLaren it was going to be, so there was a lot of time for speculation. The initial assumption, because of previous releases, was that this would be a newer McLaren, because that's what LEGO has always done in the past. Something like the Artura Spider, or the GTS, or even the Speedtail. I heard a lot of people talking about the Speedtail. All those were newer,

[09:34] though none of them brand new. Honestly, my bet was on the Speedtail because it's one of the coolest looking cars, and LEGO's already made models of all the other McLaren Ultimate Series cars themselves. That's the Elba, the Senna, and even the Senna G2R. Because of its seemingly Speedtail

[09:48] size pull-in LEGO releases, I will eat my foot. If LEGO does not make a Speedtail speech, it won't be on set in the next two years. Real most likely reason for this car selection was I think the P1 is getting a successor eventually. The P2, it won't be called the P2. It also won't be called the P18

[10:02] or whatever the code name for the car is. I said T too much at this point. Let me know if you're happy with this choice of car or with this choice of manufacturer. Let's start by nitpicking this nose.

[10:14] The nostrils are slightly the wrong shape, and they're too deep. They're much more shallow on the real car. They broke up with me as soon as I put on a few pounds. The headlights. People got a problem with this area. The shape is supposed to be achieved using this negative space here,

[10:29] which has caused a lot of the discussion to turn into. a pretty negative space. And I can see that. That point of view. I can't see the headlights. They're an implication at best. And slightly the wrong shape.

[10:41] I think the bigger problem actually lies with the nose. It should be a little pointier, a little more aggressive, a little meaner. It shouldn hold the door for me even if it sees me coming The designers also said that they tried to include the signature McLaren tear design in as many places as possible on this car The only tears I saw were tears of pain from my hurt fingers during assembly tears of blood when the build was complete and tears of frustration at that darn 45 bone gear

[11:05] This windshield, or lack thereof, has no glass in it to shield you from the hot air I'm about to expel. These new angular pieces are used for the diagonal sides, but that's not where the sides of the real windshield would actually end, and so in absence of the actual windshield makes it hard to visualize,

[11:18] and so these dash elements just end up looking like they're on the outside of the car. There's no clear solution here. This car's windshield is made of imagination, but ironically, this nuance is hard to overlook. There's some non-mitpicking details.

[11:30] The color of this car, Volcano Yellow, as McLaren calls it, I think this is the right choice for this model. If someone was repainting their P1 to a dual swing, because the real car is a slightly lighter yellow. But I guess the car had to be either yellow, indigo, or violet,

[11:43] because those are the only cars left in the religion bibs. Texas Ultimate Series color repertoire, so I cannot wait for that purple pegane coming in 2026. Mark my words. This exhaust is about to win a rap Grammy because it's absolute fire.

[11:57] At least on the real car, the exhaust is still fairly accurate on this model. Needs created the crafted super mount at exactly 28 degrees recline. That's a comfortable 82 degrees of recline in Fahrenheit. Also, a monster rear diffuser and a roof scoop

[12:10] are worthy of mentioning, but not worthy enough to get their own puns. Here's a late game disclaimer as I'm thinking back to something like earlier criticism. I think minor inaccuracies are okay. To a degree, I don't want a perfect model of this car.

[12:22] I like minifigures, not action figures. I want a detective model of this car that I know is still passionately and intricately designed, but ends up looking like a moderately abstract artistic rendering of the real P1.

[12:34] So even though it might sound like I asked ChatGPT to roast the most inane inaccuracies on this car, Let me emphasize how pedantic these criticisms really are. And they're really just with the form factor. I cannot certify any mechanical functions, else I would look more foolish than a fool of a tuff.

[12:48] I will reiterate, these designers are wizards. And I mean that in a nice way, not in the sense of these sorcery shortcuts, but still in the sense that they arrive precisely when they mean to. Is this car worth $450?

[13:00] Objectively, yeah, sure. I don't know. You do you. Objectively, no. What? This is $450 of pure LEGO privilege. But going back to subjective Josh, compared to the other 1.8 scale supercars, whatever you need to see on is going to retire a lot sooner, and that one was fantastic.

[13:15] The Ferrari Daytona, also pretty great, but that's by Ferrari fans' standards. This McLaren, I think it absolutely holds up to the rest. I think the build actually might be a little bit simpler than the others, so a bit more accessible. And if you're a huge McLaren fan and a huge Lego fan, and you've got a huge Lego budget, sure, go for it.

[13:31] What you're really getting when you buy this car, it's two separate sets. The first, it's that engine, the mechanics, all the moving parts. It's entirely function over form. It's not going to look very much like the real car's engine, but it's kind of the right number of gears, mostly being the right area of the car,

[13:44] mostly it'll be rear-wheel drive and have most of the expected functionality. The body, that's that second set. It's entirely form over function. Pitting all the shapes of panels over that chassis, trying to match the smooth curves of the real thing,

[13:57] that took some artistry. But this two-set argument is almost immediately a false dichotomy because neither that form nor that function are complete without the other. They have to work together to bring us this incredibly impressive final product.

[14:09] And so, my final thought is, this is one really great thing. As always, do whatever you want, whenever you want, laws are a man-made construct. Yeah. As always, do whatever you want, whenever you want, laws are a man-made construct. But if what you want in this moment is to like and subscribe, well, that would be mighty appreciated.

[14:24] I've been Josh, and I, Build It Up.