Fate of Full-Size Lego F1 Racer Silver Champion Car?

[DLuders]

Does anybody know what happened to the full-size Lego car that was built for Legoland/Billund in September 2000? There is an Lego Press Release article about it at http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?p...mp;archive=true (no, this is not an "April Fool's" joke). My son and I just got a used Lego 8458 Silver Champion kit (shown below), and we followed the broken link to the website http://www.lego.com/silverchampion .

Highlights of the September 2000 TLG Press Release:

"LEGO Company Launches its own Formula 1 Racer"

"...A team of professional LEGO Model Builders have just put the finishing touches to a gigantic, silver Formula 1 racer built of no less than 249,172 LEGO elements. The car is 5.25 m long and 2.30 m wide....

"The big Formula 1 racer, which has recently celebrated its world premiere in LEGOLAND Billund and which is going on a world tour in order to be displayed at various exhibitions, is a true copy of the LEGO TECHNIC Silver Champion that children and adults now can buy in the shops. It has taken LEGO TECHNIC Designers a whole year to design the model....

"The new big model weighs 550 kg and features built-in sound and light effects. Even the wheel suspension is a true copy of a genuine Formula 1 racer, and mind you, it has been built of LEGO bricks. A team of designers have spent 770 hours developing and magnifying the model. Then it has taken model builders and technicians 2,174 hours to construct the car.

"...the Formula 1 LEGO TECHNIC racer is making a world tour, visiting some of the biggest motor shows in Europe. Some of the future stops are Great Britain, Great Britain, Germany, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Austria."

Did any of the European AFOLs seen this 1:1-scale car? Does anybody know where there may be pictures of it online, or whether or not it still exists?

Edited April 2, 2010 by dluders

[Conchas]

Latest photos from the post below

http://technicbricks.blogspot.com/2008/11/...chnic-cars.html,