Vectormatic

Oh, from that point of view lego is right on the mark with this set, it looks quite spectacular, i just think compared to 42000 and 42039 it is a bit mediocre, but lets not go there again Its listed not on S@H at 99 euros for me, ill probably pick it up when i can find a (small, think 10 bucks) discount to give me some starting budget for bricklinking parts for modding, same probably applies to 42075

hmm, brickset has a back-of-box pic for 77, no features beyond engine, steering, suspension and opening doors/hoods ah well, bring the sets on!

good to see 75 has a proper diff, the flip up "light" in the bed is a bit meh though, but as a play feature it is a good addition now im curious to see what 77 has in store feature wise

The trans boat-stud in the bed puzzles me, it looks like some HOG kind of thing, but from other pics this thing seems hidden down in the bed, and the black axle to the right of it seem to go nowhere, no gears on the end etc.. Im hoping the rear axle has a diff, but i cant quite make it out...

I just want the H1 sets in my hands, with how slow Lego is with introducing new sets here (or maybe its the toy stores being slackers), im not even sure ill see them on shelves before jan 10th... On S@H the small sets are listed as available starting dec 26th...

the stratos bodywork and wheelbase can serve as a good base for a version with rear suspension and fake v6 though, ill be counting my flex axles tonight!

itll be cheap though, im hoping the rear axle has shocks, and while the two cylinder boxer weirds me out in a car, i do like the set, should be a good basis for modification, ditch the panels in the back, the stickers and put a bigger engine in and its a mini 42029

ah, didnt know those were different, looks like it should be possible to drive the front wheels, so an awd conversion is possible

are those different from the hubs in 42039? id expect those to return, considering the wheels are the same size, and the suspension and drivetrain will most likely be the same

Ill agree that the car is "good enough" to sell a whole bunch to kids, but is that really all we get to expect from lego? From what we know currently, 42077 is a regression coming from 42000 and 42039, which are the obvious comparisons to make, given subject matter and size/price bracket. How much more effort would it have been to put a front diff in there and link front and back axles with a simple driveshaft? (hell, you dont even need a diff in that one, as it wont inhibit function, and having an open diff in the middle would make it pointless as a rally car) Ill agree 100% on the porsche by the way, there the "good enough to sell to kids" doesnt fly, and technically speaking, the only thing seperating it from a $99 set like this is the 4 speed flappy padle gearbox, which doesnt run smooth, has an error in the instructions, and it hugely unrealistic compared to the real thing in terms of how it operates. And all the community mods clearly show that better solutions, using lego-legal techniques exist. As i said to Jim, is "good enough to sell to kids" really the standard we hold lego to on a big set? And function wise i dont really see this car as a lack of improvement, but a regression compared to previous race cars

are we seriously counting a seat as a feature in a technic set now? And doors.. a bunch of liftarms and a panel rotating on a pin.. unless there is some underlying more complex mechanism like in the enzo or 42039, i dont feel like they count as a function, not on a medium or larger sized technic set

Functionality wise, it IS 42037, plus 2 cylinders and opening doors/hood, it looks a LOT better, and there is a good reason i did not buy 42037, and i will absolutely be buying 42077, but looking at functions, and the amount of actual technic things going on, this set is looking like a lightweight (as have other sets in the past, 42041 for instance is just fake engine and steering) I still like it very much though, and i will 100% sure buy it, but this set has style over substance written all over it, and even if i dont like the secondary functions stuff in 40239, getting some gearbox parts "for free" in the box. Ill be getting it, but ill be modding it a LOT as well

damn, that 42077 gearbox mis-spot had me going for a second there, im really wondering if it even has any functions besides drivetrain, suspension and opening doors at all... It would be a mild disappointment if it is just that, basically 42037 with a prettier body slapped on top The link to pike's peak is a good one i think, although recent pike's peak record cars have all been AWD from what i can find (and pushrod suspension in the case of the 208 T16)

ooh, gulf livery porsche sounds cool, too bad that with just one wheelarch per set yhose things will be pricey

I would love a 2017 919 + 962 combo, but considering we got a 919/917 combo last year, i just dont see it. It would be the perfect porsche set for me though, considering i never got last year's set (i refuse to buy a €80 set when im only interested in the two cars) I think the GT2RS is a certainty though, but that could be the single porsche

yeah, on my own personal wishlist would be a redesigned crank-piece (0.5 stud shorter), and a redesigned conrod, that way we could build true boxer engines where the cylinders are offset 0.5 stud, much nicer for stuff like the BMW motorbike, Porsche and pretty much every flat engine ever used in any technic set. Cylinder heads with cams would be cool too, but there is no way we could do a proper head with moving/sprung valves in lego scale, i think just a simple block on top with an axle through it with gears/chains is about the best we can do, that would bulk up engine block size in build considerably

The Ferrari/Ford/Porsche thing was leaked months ago, the added info here is that we now know which brand is mapped to which size set. Im kinda disappointed that we will probably just get a road version of the Ford GT, which we already had this year in race trim, and generally speaking im not a big enough ford fan to get excited about another two fords in the lineup, but ah well. I do wonder what the three porsches will be though, maybe the two-car set will be an old vs new iconic car combo, i just wouldnt know what, 911 GT2RS Vs some old air cooled 911? I seriously wondering if three porsches means we will get a boxster/cayman, and how the hell lego is going to distinguish between several modern porsches, considering they all look so damn similar. I just hope we dont get a cayenne/macan/panamera

Just as it should be in a drag-rod! (and this doesnt even have a supercharger in the stack yet :P) Honestly, lego's fake engine parts are waaaaaaay too big for pretty much all models, im willing to bet even on the porsche you end up with a comedy engine displacement if you were to calculate stroked volume based on the car body as a scale reference. By my measurement/calc, the swept volume of a lego cylinder is roughly 0.57 cc, times six gives me a 3,4 cc engine for the porsche. Now going by Jims review the porsche is either 1:8 scale or 1:7.8 (real car length devided by model length), giving a scaling factor of either 512 or 474 for engine volume, meaning we end up with either a 1.6 or a 1.7 litre "boxer" engine, rather then the 3.6 that the real car has... (i was honestly expecting the volume to be waaaaaay too large, but i havent had the porsche in my hands). Going by this i kind of expect the lego engine components work pretty well for larger models, a 1:8 V10 ferrari F1 car would have a 2.4 litre engine, close enough to the real thing at 3.0

What is the challenge for the rear axle? Lego has independent+diff rear axles in tons of models, or was it a case of width restriction?

Some people are just car-guys (or gals), me included. I personally couldnt care less about yet another industrial truck or crane, doesnt matter how much functions they have. And while the functions might not impress (42037 was 55 euros though, not 40, which is the closest thing functionality wise i can think off), it certainly looks the part and is about the only option (race)car enthusiasts have for a serious set, this side of a 300 euro porsche. Considering how little race cars technic gets im always a bit irked by the crane/lorry enthusiasts bemoaning "yet another race car" when something worthwhile actually shows up. After 42039 all us car guys have had was the 42048 go-kart and the "funny car" drag racer, which is so ugly i cant bring myself to buy one excluding the porsche that is 3 sets for 3 years of technic. /rant, dont mean to rip on the crane/offroad guys by the way, im just a bit annoyed i only get about 1 race car each year to look forward to, and yes, id love more/better features in them! (although i just mod whatever i get my hands on), i mean come on lego, cant you give us at least AWD in a rally car? EDIT: by the way, any clues as to when we can expect reviews? the last couple of years those dropped around dec 1st right?

derp, and most motorcycles too! (well, 42036 A and B model, and 8051 anyway) and to think i have at least 3 single cylinder karts/small cars either way, i meant i dont know of any i4, v6 or even i3 transverse engines in technic cars, like you would see in real life cars, its all longitudinal and mostly rwd to make for an easy centered diff, and simple suspension/drive axles

Thats pretty cool, and assuming it is medium blue, the large panels to make the doors and front bay cover blue do exist, the flex axles probably dont, so you cant remove all the white, but still.. Alternatively, the wheel arch curved panels exist is green which should make the thing Octan styled in one go, which i might go for to match my Octan-modded 42039

There is a likeness, but i doubt it, if they wanted lancia inspiration they should've gone either transverse V6 (stratos) or longitudinal I4 (037), not longitudinal V6. That engine type/placement is just lego doing their normal "fast cars have V engines" thing combined with easy placement (ive never seen a transverse engine in technic), and its probably a V6 rather then a V8 because the model is significantly shorter then 42039, so they lopped off two cylinders to fit the engine in there. The bodywork is also far too modern for a 70s lancia. The rally car does look quite light on features, aside from opening doors/hood/rear cover it is just a simple rear direct driveline and HOG steering and the usual double wishbone suspension, but the price (€90) reflects that compared to 42000 and 42039, so im happy with that. I think this set, like every big(ish) technic set should be viewed as a starting point for modification for AFOLs, very little sets these days display new techniques out of the box, and most new parts are decorative or colour changes. Take a set like this though, and try to make it more accurate as a rally car, and you've got something to cut your teeth on as an AFOL, looking at this rally car im thinking AWD, perhaps a front placed boxer engine to go all subaru on it. The only thing that is really annoying in terms of mods for this car is that damn porsche wheel arch, available on only three colours so far, and with lego's insistence on using five shades of blue across its range, that will make any sort of colour swap/change very difficult without rebuilding the rear body work to remove that damn wheel arch part.

1005 parts for the rally car... that is significantly less then 42000 (at ~1150) and 42039 (>1200), even less then 42068, which is for sale at €75 over here... Even at €99 that is going to be a bit pricey, im wondering if itll include PF in the box, considering 42052 at €120 for 1042 parts, which includes PF and a record number of panels. I hate to go all price-bitching again, but if 1005 is indeed the part count, and no PF, i might feel compelled to wait for a better price then the rumoured €99

Im sure 77 will have extra features, a 37-like set in terms of features in 1000+ parts and a $100 price just wont do obviously Going by the text, the cooling fans and doors might be mechanically driven in the same way they were in 00, 39 and 66, with the two option gearbox. I do hope they come up with something better then cooling fans and doors though, but ill happily mod the car to be more interesting either way