LEGO Group x BMW M
In recent years, BMW M and LEGO fans have enjoyed quite a few opportunities building LEGO models. Whether it’s the BMW M 1000 RR, the BMW M Motorsport cars – the BMW M Hybrid V8 and BMW M4 GT3 or, more recently, their EVO successors from LEGO® Technic – many fascinating M models have already been released as LEGO sets.
In the latest collaboration with the long-established Danish company, the 40th anniversary of the BMW M3 provided the starting point for a special project: for the first time, designers from the LEGO Group and BMW M have joined forces to create a special design for the LEGO® Speed Champions BMW M3 E30 that does justice to the occasion. After all, 40 years of the BMW M3 also means 40 years of BMW M Motorsport history.
From the start, both parties knew this anniversary deserved something truly special. The idea to co-create a unique livery took shape, and over the course of several productive meetings, the LEGO Group and BMW developed a shared vision. A standout moment was a workshop, hosted at the Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ) in Munich. It marked the beginning of an extraordinary journey through creativity, passion, and the art of engineering.
During a break in the workshop programme, Frank van Meel invited Will Thorogood for a quick spin through the city in the BMW M3 Touring.
INTERVIEW WITH THE DESIGNERS.
INTERVIEW WITH THE DESIGNERS.
From small to big, from motorsport to gaming: great design needs bold decisions. And so the joint meeting was already used to define the design direction of the new LEGO® Speed Champions BMW M3 E30. Afterwards, we were able to talk to Will Thorogood, Head of Design at the LEGO Group, and Michael Scully, Head of Design at BMW M, in an interview.
Name: Will Thorogood
Occupation: Head of Design, New Business
Education/training: MDes Transport Design
LEGO designer because: As a child, I wanted to be a car designer and spent my time drawing cars and building them out of my LEGO bricks. I went on to study car design and was lucky enough during my studies to find an internship opportunity at The LEGO Group that led on to my career as a LEGO Designer.
Favourite LEGO set: LEGO® Technic “Test Car” 1990 – set 8865
Favourite BMW M car: M1 Procar
Will, the iconic BMW M3 E30 you and your team co-created together with the BMW Group design team will be part of the LEGO® Speed Champions series. What was your first thought when you heard about the project?
I was incredibly excited, of course. I probably shouldn’t have been as involved as I’ve been, but with this one I couldn’t help myself. I grew up watching Touring car racing with my dad, seeing the E30 M3s in wheel-to-wheel battles, so it was amazing to be able to be a part of celebrating the 40th anniversary of the car.
The model is a real eye-catcher. What was it like working with the BMW Group design team, and how did you create the unique livery together?
It was great working with the BMW Group design team on bringing this special livery to life. Being able to discuss the history and legend of the E30 M3 as well as where the brand is headed in the future really helped us create a unique livery. We kicked off with an online call to get things going but then had a workshop together at BMW Design in Munich where we could study the real car and discuss the livery together in real time. We left with a shared view on what the most important aspects of the design should be and then we went back and forth on calls and emails to finalise the design. That entire process took around four months.
How do you look at the original and come up with something like this?
We start by trying to identify the key design elements of the real car and then look to how each can be interpreted in LEGO brick form. Of course, we are not looking to create a “die cast” style replica of the car, but a LEGO brick interpretation, so nailing the key design details and proportions are essential for us to achieve this at such a small scale. Similarly, we have to deliver a great building experience to our fans, so we are looking at every aspect of how the bricks go together, how they are shaped and how we can split those colours also when designing the livery for the car, to make sure it works in LEGO brick form, too.
Are there any specifications regarding which components must be used to build LEGO® Speed Champions sets?
We always try to use elements that can easily be used to build other things, but there aren’t specific bricks or elements we need to use every time. For LEGO® Speed Champions, we have a set scale, so we know the cars are eight studs wide, and we know there will be a minifigure to drive the car, but other than that we are free to utilise the LEGO system as creatively as we can to achieve the overall look and feel of the car in the most authentic way.
It is essential for us to pay attention to every detail when we are creating cars at this scale.
Lights, spoilers, roof line: many cars have one or more very distinctive features without which the model would not be easily recognizable. What did you pay particular attention to with the BMW M3 E30?
All of it! This may sound flippant, but it is essential for us to pay attention to every detail when we are creating cars at this scale. We are always studying each detail and considering how it can be built using our existing bricks. The BMW M3 E30 has a lot of unique details, and it was important for us to understand which we could translate well into brick and how those could inform the overall design of the model.
In your opinion, what was the biggest challenge during development?
It may sound counterintuitive given that LEGO bricks are square, but building more boxy cars is a challenge in LEGO brick form. The more subtle the shaping, the harder it is to capture it without it becoming super square. Recreating the essence of the E30 M3 and the subtle details in this scale was certainly a challenge for the team, but we are really happy with the end result.
Is there a detail, an ‘Easter egg’ or a cleverly used LEGO component on the model that you are particularly proud of?
We’ve done our absolute best to recreate the most vital details of the car and sometimes we do need to think outside the box to do so. For example, the build of the iconic kidney grill uses two forks – a really fun surprise during the build! We decided to use the forks as they were the best elements to accurately recreate that specific detail, and that is a key feature of many LEGO® Speed Champions sets. Surprising parts usage always keeps the builder on their toes!
Stickers vs. prints is always a hot topic within the LEGO community. I imagine that, given the complex livery on this model, the decision-making process was especially challenging?
We know our fans love the printed elements and who doesn’t! We always have to make decisions and this model features both. Sometimes we decide to make something a print element due to the shape. If it’s a tricky shape to put a sticker on, then it’s not going to look good. Sometimes it’s due to the size or placement of the brick. Personally, I find stickers can give the builder a choice of how they use the parts and I actually quite enjoy putting them on, especially when using my favourite trick - a lot of people don’t know this, but the handle of the spanner in every set can actually be used to pick up stickers and apply them perfectly. It’s super satisfying!
Surprising parts usage is a key feature of many LEGO Speed Champions sets.
You had the opportunity to study the M3 E30 up close at the workshop with the BMW Group design team. Are there any design features on this vehicle that you particularly like?
I was honoured that I got the opportunity to visit the BMW HQ and study the car up close, especially as I had never had the chance to sit in an E30 M3 before! There are so many features that make it stand out from the standard E30 and seeing the car up close, it really struck me just how different the overall feeling of the car is compared to the other models. The stance, how muscular and taut he surfacing is and how a few subtle changes completely transform the feeling of the car was really striking in person.
You studied car design. That is a unique blend especially for this project. Can you tell us more about how your passion for cars and personal background influenced this project?
When I started working at the LEGO Group, I thought my passion for cars would remain a hobby despite the fact a lot of the design skills transferred well into the world of toys. Over the past decade, as we have grown our business with cars, especially through LEGO® Speed Champions, it has given me the opportunity to merge my hobby passion and my work and it’s brilliant that I get to use that background for designing LEGO cars now! This project was a perfect way to work together with creatives in the automotive industry and merge those passions into one awesome product.
Name: Michael Scully
Occupation: Head of Design, BMW M
Education/training: Carnegie Mellon University, 1995 BFA Industrial Design
Car designer because: Prior to studying Industrial Design, my background was in motorsports and sculpture: car design has the capability to unite each of those aspects, and for me it’s particularly rewarding to create vehicles which not only deliver transcendent performance but also announce their intent with forthright aesthetics.
Favourite LEGO set: LEGO® Williams Racing FW14B (on my wishlist!)
Favourite BMW M car: BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDH race car
Good design often has something to do with high recognition value. With this in mind, how would you classify the BMW M3 E30 from the 1980s?
The E30 was a “homologation special” aimed at making a more potent racecar via a widened track with the addition of “box flare” fenders and making it available to customers, which the regulations required. Having this authentic Motorsports bloodline from the beginning is fundamental to the M3 identity, and the E30 made a highly athletic first impression!
The first BMW M3 is a milestone in the history of M GmbH and is considered a design icon. What does it mean for the brand’s design today and what does it mean to you personally?
With Motorsports intrinsic to the M3 from day one, for me it is important to embrace the functional aspects of the car and celebrate the powertrain. That’s where the performant authenticity of the design comes from.
Which detail of the new BMW M3 from LEGO® Speed Champions are you particularly proud of?
The livery visually embraces the layered block form construction inherent to LEGO, while also referencing BMW M Motorsport race liveries of the past and present with a bold diagonal schematic traversing the entirety of the car. Adding to the high contrast layout, the large number 40 emblazoned on the hood celebrates a significant anniversary of the M3 production car in a graphic language which again draws inspiration from LEGO’s geometric aesthetic.
As a self-confessed LEGO fan, have you ever tried to create any type of BMW/BMW M model from scratch using just LEGO bricks and your imagination? What do you think of the BMW M3 E30 as a LEGO Speed Champions set?
Building cars that I’ve worked on the original design of – like the BMW M Hybrid V8 and BMW M4 GT3 – now in LEGO form together with my young son is honestly pretty surreal. But those are preexisting kits. Things escalated recently when my son asked if we could build a race car that I own from scratch: a 1975 Shadow DN6 Formula 5000. That was supercool as a quick/pragmatic scratch build. Seeing him comparing the model to the actual car was amazing, as was watching the different scales of human and machine interact.
Creation, three-dimensionality, testing new approaches to design or breaking down design ideas into a different format: as a designer, do you automatically have a certain affinity for LEGO bricks?
Our collaboration with LEGO Group on the 40th anniversary E30 M3 has been a fantastic full circle journey, as nearly all members of the BMW M Design team inevitably found their creative feet while using LEGO bricks at an impressionable age. To now work together with the LEGO team on both the geometry and livery of the BMW E30 M3 is a chance to revisit those important foundations and pay homage to a production car that also makes us feel young again.
In addition to the explicit dimensional awareness working with LEGO bricks instills, I think there’s also an aspect of resourcefulness that is learned. Indeed, necessity is the mother of invention and if one has a pre-defined pallet of modules on hand, repurposing those pieces into new constellations is often when some of the best, most inventive results emerge.
Thank you very much, Will and Michael, for the interview.
