Set Review - McLaren P1 75909

The third set in our review of the Speed Champions singles is the McLaren P1. My second daughter built this. If you're like me (and I know I am) then you understand what a second child is like. First children are very meticulous rule followers. Anal retentive if you will. Second children tend to be more free-spirited. Let's have fun! Wait! No, let's stop this fun and have more fun! Almost anal expulsive.

 Anyway, let's just say that a build in bright light orange livery was the best choice for this sweet child of mine. There were several complaints that pieces in the instructions didn't actually exist. I'd quietly pick them and listen to her rant for another minute before seeing it. But I love her all the same and she did finally finish it.

Despite the fact that red and yellow 1x2 plates obviously are (or were if you're reading this in the future. Hello future!) in production based on the other models, I'm surprised at the choice of green for some for the underbody work. I was afraid that there would be some confusion with the colors between bright light orange and yellow but it went fine. More confusion was caused (with me at least) at the disparity of color choice for the support pieces. Yeah, it's not like you can see it at 200mph but when the car flips it's like someone set a Christmas tree on fire with all the colors.

I also didn't like the long nose so much. I understand that there was a particular aesthetic that was being aimed for here and it needed an extra stud of body in front of the front wheels to do it. It just doesn't look right. Maybe because of those chunky fenders. Something a little lighter would have allowed room for a headlight brick behind which in turn could have converted the 1x2 45° slope into a cheese wedge instead. It makes sense in my mind anyway.

For her, the coolest part about the car was the spoiler. The attachment doesn't quite match the IRL car. It should have used droid arms to be more closely matched. But that didn't matter to her. It could have been attached with duct tape and she wouldn't have cared. Whatever, it's a snowboard! Of course it came off and the driver was suddenly transformed from shooting a steel and glass bullet at 200mph to shooting a poly-resin board around at slightly less speed.

Again, I built these sans stickers so that you, dear reader, could see what the cars look like naked. I think they still look kind of cool in all their natural glory. Sure you don't get some smoothing of curves or intakes (nor does the McLaren especially look the IRL car) but they are a neat scale nonetheless. I look forward to more of these in a second wave.

Next week! German engineering!