[MOC] Ferrari LaFerrari 1:8

[T Lego]

Ferrari’s most anticipated car after the Enzo, the LaFerrari, boasts the most extreme performance ever achieved by a Ferrari production car, wrapped in a breathtaking bodywork and features the most advanced and innovative technical solutions. Now, a decade later, it arguably remains the most ultimate machine the company has ever made.

 

Finally I am able to present my 1:8 scale representation of this prancing horse, in which the spirit of innovation and aesthetics were cornerstones. The result is the implementation of a diverse set of features including some unseen concepts.  Furthermore an attempt at replicating the bodywork, including many characteristic details in faithfulness to the original. Finally, a lot of effort was put into refining the used building techniques and improving the overall build quality compared to my previous works. Realising these ambitions came at the costs of vast time investments and sleepless nights, however it has undoubtedly been the most rewarding project of mine to date and I am satisfied with the finished product.

 

Specs:

- Part count: 4500

- Dimensions: 75 x 31 x 16 studs

- Weight: 3 kg

- 3D printed rims

Features:

- RWD

 - V12 engine with hybrid detailing

- Steering + working steering wheel – controlled with pluggable HOG

- Independent suspension

- Dynamic suspension connected to the steering (rolling)

- Adjustable front suspension height – operated with the same pluggable HOG

- Deployable rear spoiler and diffuser flaps –operated with a lever behind the engine

- 8+N+R speed sequential gearbox with gear indicator in the cabin – operated with rotating paddle shifters

- Modular chassis and bodywork

- Openable engine cover (spring loaded), butterfly doors and frunk

Bodywork

Admittedly,  I underestimated the challenge of replicating the bodywork of this car. It’s a delicate task with so many thin lines and shapes to tackle. One must be extremely careful; even the slightest bumps or overhangs will ruin the flow and proportions. As usual, a harmonic combination of panels and soft axles did the best job in achieving a clean and gapless look. Thanks to some thoughtful feedback of @brunojj1, I realised I had to minimize system brick usage as they generally contribute to a bulkier appearance and increased fragility. You will still see a bunch of them in places where I simply couldn’t come up with a better technic alternative, without compromise. Also thanks to @astyanax for inspecting the build and providing a number of neat small cosmetic and construction improvements.

Aerodynamics

The LaFerrari’s active aerodynamics systems consists of three separate components: front flaps on the bottom, rear diffuser flaps and a rear spoiler. Originally my model was equipped with a similar setup, however the front flaps were discarded at a later stage as I found them too space consuming for a feature not quite visible. Since the dynamic suspension was already connected to the steering, I installed a lever behind the engine to able operate it as a separate feature instead. Needless to say, the rear spoiler is only an approximation to the real car’s spoiler. A more authentic mechanism would have thrown off the proportions of the surrounding bodywork.

Rotating paddle shifters

Realising the concept of the rotating Paddle shifters by Charbel was a tremendous challenge. After he shared his idea with me, we worked together to create countless different prototypes and discussed our results and  conclusions. The real LaFerrari actually has fixed paddle shifters, however the underlying benefit of these rotating Lego paddles shifters is the compactness, making it possible to keep the interior clean and spacious, plus leaving enough room for the aforementioned suspension system. Unfortunately due to the space limitations, I couldn’t make the paddles retract automatically when operated. As a result they aren’t as satisfying to play with compared to traditional setups. Nevertheless, the pros outweigh the cons IMO and everything works nice and reliably.

Dynamic and adjustable suspension system

The objective was to design a mechanism which would roll the car when steered and integrate a function to adjust the height of the suspension. The latter only to be applied on the front axle to simulate the nose lift of the real car. The rolling is realised by moving the inner shock absorber mount down and the outer one up when the car is steered. I see it as a more ‘visual’ and playable alternative to antiroll bars used to counter the leaning effect during high speed cornering. Combining these two features generated my greatest technical challenge yet with countless of iterations. The breakthrough idea was to use horizontally translating worm gears for the rolling (thanks to their frictionless sliding property) and rotate the same worm gears for the adjustable height. The way motion is transferred from the worm gears to the shock absorber mounts is unconventional, but extremely effective – minimal slack and friction.

Apologies for not publishing building instructions. It will be available as a CaDa Master set in the future instead (Release after Chinese new year in Februari). For any updates, details and discussions on this, be referred to this topic. Since my presentation here contains 100% Lego, I got permission by the admin to make a seperate topic. 

Full photo gallery: https://www.bricksafe.com/pages/T_Antonie/ferrari-laferrari-18

Looking forward to your feedback, comments and discussions! Have a good day.

 

 

 

[Good old Lego builder]

Simply amazing!

[Anio]

That's the next level of Lego Supercar.

Sad (but understandable) that it goes with a chinese toy manufacturer.

[LvdH]

Mindblowing build. This is on a whole another level compared to anything else in the market. The looks and functions go perfectly hand in hand. 

I would like to thank Tlego for allowing me to build this in advance, testing the instructions and the amazing build experience, some of the help along the way and the countless of hours that went into designing, redesigning and even improving the design months after it was finished. 

Edited January 14, 2023 by LvdH

[Alex Ilea]

This is a superb MOC that really incapsulates what technic is all about: Functions and Looks. 

The bodywork looks very impressive and is definitely a faithful representation of the real car.

The functions are just incredible, and they definitely add a lot of value to this build.

I feel that with this build, the standard of the technic supercar MOC was just raised to an astronomical level, and all of us MOCers should take notes and don't sleep on this one.

One thought that keeps grinding me, is that even though this model is so spectacular in every way, I keep on thinking if this many functions is just way too many? If there is such a thing =)

Congratulations on the model!

[brunojj1]

Awesome job, your work finally pays off ! I love it because of the complete package of functionality and level of details inside and outside ! And happy I could contribute few bits to the polishing. Can´t wait to build it and put a black custom Aperta version next to it !

[nerdsforprez]

1 hour ago, T Lego said:

Apologies for not publishing building instructions. It will be available as a CaDa Master set in the future instead (Release after Chinese new year in Februari). For any updates, details and discussions on this, be referred to this topic. Since my presentation here contains 100% Lego, I got permission by the admin to make a seperate topic. 

Goodness.  Can't believe my eyes.  This is a stunning build.  Saw this on YT and commented this morning.   Great job!

I can't wait to buy this.  This certainly will go in my collection.  It will be available in Feb. you say?  

Also, I commented on the above because although I certainly don't want to detract from the overall build, but it is not 100% lego right?  As you mention, the rims are 3D printed.  Also, (and they look great!) the hubs are not Lego, along with the brake pads, either.  I see metal nuts and something that looks like ceramic brake pads.  Wonderful detail! They look great.  But can you elaborate more on what that is exactly? 

[Jim]

7 minutes ago, nerdsforprez said:

Also, I commented on the above because although I certainly don't want to detract from the overall build, but it is not 100% lego right?  As you mention, the rims are 3D printed.  Also, (and they look great!) the hubs are not Lego, along with the brake pads, either.  I see metal nuts and something that looks like ceramic brake pads.  Wonderful detail! They look great.  But can you elaborate more on what that is exactly? 

I am interested in this as well 

1 hour ago, Anio said:

Sad (but understandable) that it goes with a chinese toy manufacturer.

At least we can build it in genuine LEGO 

1 hour ago, Anio said:

That's the next level of Lego Supercar.

Absolutely!!! 

[mla2]

Very cool! Congratulations to both you and CaDa.

[Zerobricks]

Amazing job indeed. I especially admire the fact it's a modular design which requires easy to take apart, yet strong and simple enough connection points. Also interesting idea with the tilt-steering, I think you could achieve a simillar result by adjusting the steering geometry to exhibit such behaviour automatically when steering.

[astyanax]

Stunning rendition of a beautiful machine!

Very happy to have been able to build her already. Of course, me being insufferable me, I had to make a few modifications -- for better or for worse. In general, I tried to replace System bricks by Technic solutions. Mods include:

• front wheel arches modified using arched panels
• modified the big rear cover, especially the area around the taillights
• added brakelights
• reshaped headlights
• larger exhausts

Also I made alternatives for and and because TLG's Daytona SP3 had not been revealed yet.
Below is a video showing my version in more detail.

Sorry for the photo-bomb at the beginning... it's the neighbor's cat and he doesn't listen to me... 

[nerdsforprez]

How are folks getting early access to this?

[T Lego]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone!

3 hours ago, Alex Ilea said:

I keep on thinking if this many functions is just way too many? If there is such a thing =)

It depends. This car might be overengineered in a few areas, which also contributes to the tremendous part count (something I'm not proud of)

3 hours ago, nerdsforprez said:

As you mention, the rims are 3D printed.  Also, (and they look great!) the hubs are not Lego, along with the brake pads, either.  I see metal nuts and something that looks like ceramic brake pads.  Wonderful detail! They look great.  But can you elaborate more on what that is exactly? 

3 hours ago, Jim said:

I am interested in this as well 

The car is indeed 100% lego. I forgot to mention that the discs are custom too (no metal, all 3D printed) and snap perfectly in the lego hub. The motivation for customs discs was to allow for a more accurate 3D printed rim design, in which the center lock is of smaller diameter. So instead of a bulky 3 pin layout constraining a smaller center lock, this system uses a simple screw thread. The wheels are attached by rotating them on the discs till they are locked firmly. 

1 hour ago, Zerobricks said:

Amazing job indeed. I especially admire the fact it's a modular design which requires easy to take apart, yet strong and simple enough connection points. Also interesting idea with the tilt-steering, I think you could achieve a simillar result by adjusting the steering geometry to exhibit such behaviour automatically when steering.

I have thought about this and I doubt it to be honest, but hopefuly you can prove me wrong with a POC some day

22 minutes ago, nerdsforprez said:

How are folks getting early access to this?

I shared my model with them in advance, for feedback and test building. 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by T Lego

[Gray Gear]

Not really my kind of car, but definitely an amazing piece of work. I especially enjoyed the dynamic suspension, which is something I have never seen before. 

[astyanax]

@T Lego's kids look great together too!

[gyenesvi]

Amazing piece of engineering! The looks are smooth and fluid, and the mechanics are great. For me the dynamic steering and lifting feature is what makes it most interesting. I like how the two features are made possible at the same time, not bothering each other. Great job! No wonder it takes so much time to build something like that, but it is really worth it :)

[williamyzfr1]

Seems I will be buying my second CADA Supercar soon. I have Brunojj1's red car (non motorised).

@T Lego - Fantastic achievement and awesome feature set.

[nerdsforprez]

5 hours ago, T Lego said:

I forgot to mention that the discs are custom too (no metal, all 3D printed) and snap perfectly in the lego hub.

Do you have a source for the hubs, wheels and disks?  I would also like to add this option to my set. It looks great.  

[eric trax]

The best lego supercar I've ever seen! The body work looks amazing. Fantastic job!

[2GodBDGlory]

Amazing work! The model looks amazing and very clean, but I think what really sets it apart from other 1:8 cars is the functionality. The 8+N+R transmission is about as complex as you could ask for, but the dynamic steering/axle lift is very cool looking, achieved with interesting mechanics, and innovative.

Thanks for sharing! I'm pleased it'll be released by CADA as well to make it easier for more people to enjoy it (and, I suppose, result in free instructions through the CADA website eventually?)

Edited January 15, 2023 by 2GodBDGlory

[lmdesigner42]

Top notch supercar MOC! Really beautiful bodywork, rotating paddle shifters (), and the most complicated front axle I've seen. Really tempted by the CaDa Master set, even though I just finished building the previous CaDa Ferrari.

[Bartybum]

Man, here I was thinking the Centenario couldn't be topped  The wait's been so worth it dude, you should be proud. One thing I've just noticed that I absolutely love is how the roof actually has volume to it, unlike so many Technic hypercars that just opt for some flat panels. Everything about this is amazing

Edited January 15, 2023 by Bartybum

[Jim]

I am actually tempted to buy the Cada version for the instructions and build it with genuine LEGO (except the few missing parts).

[Ngoc Nguyen]

10 minutes ago, Jim said:

I am actually tempted to buy the Cada version for the instructions and build it with genuine LEGO (except the few missing parts).

Same!

[johnnytifosi]

22 hours ago, T Lego said:

 

It will be available as a CaDa Master set in the future instead

You just made my day! CaDa's designs and value are just on another level compared to Lego. I recently built their classic Porsche 911 and it blows the official Lego set out of the water.

I was never interested in any 1:8 supercars but this caught my attention. It's instantly recognizable, it doesn't looked like a jagged pile of panels and the functionality looks great. This is what all the official Lego 1:8 sets should be.

Is there any mechanism involved in the doors or engine hood? Will there be any motorized version?

Edited January 15, 2023 by johnnytifosi