1997 Ferrari 456 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari 512M and more immortalized as Lego sets

Lego has announced a slew of new Speed Champions sets, the ones based on actual licensed cars, for 2022. The latest batch includes a smorgasbord of supercars, from beloved classics like the Lamborghini Countach to yet-to-be-released promises like the long-awaited Mercedes-AMG One. There are seven cars in total, released in five sets.  Our favorite is probably the 262-piece Lamborghini Countach, based on a later LP500 variant. Not only does it tick the box of a childhood dream machine, but the angular shape of the real-life Countach lends itself well to being recreated in Lego bricks. Also, it's modeled in white rather than the typical red. Lego Speed Champions Ferrari 512M 1 View 6 Photos We also really dig the Ferrari 512M. It marked the last of Ferrari's V12 endurance racers, and even though it was soundly spanked by the Porsche 917, the cars are undeniably beautiful. The 291-piece Lego set does a great job of capturing its brutal wedge silhouette in brick form. Lego Speed Champions Lotus Evija 1 View 5 Photos Rounding out the single-car sets is the 247-piece Lotus Evija. The electric Lotus has a bit of a generic supercar look about it, but that's not entirely the fault of the Lego kit. Its dramatic vents can't really be replicated with the limited "resolution" of the Lego bricks. Its rear, with unique taillight-encircled air tunnels, is a bit more distinctive. Lego Speed Champions Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR & Vantage GT3 1 View 7 Photos In addition to the single car sets, there are two larger sets of two cars each. One is a 592-piece Aston Martin-themed pack that includes the Valkyrie AMR Pro and Vantage GT3. Again, it's a bit difficult to sculpt the cars' curvaceous lines out of straight-edged bricks, but the effort is admirable. The Valkyrie is probably the more successful of the two, as the Vantage would resemble a Corvette or Viper if it didn't have stickers to clarify the details. Lego Speed Champions Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance & Project One 01 View 9 Photos Last but not least is a twofer comprised of 564 bricks to build the Mercedes-AMG One and seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton's W12 racer. In Lego's official product description the driver is not mentioned by name, but the number 44 gives it away. The model of the One indeed looks like a sharp supercar, but the blocky pieces don't exactly replicate the lines we've seen on camouflaged test mules.

Vettel wins in Hungary as Ferrari finishes first and second

Sebastian Vettel won a tense Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday in a Ferrari one-two that stretched his championship lead to 14 points after Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton sportingly surrendered third place to his team mate. The German, savoring his fourth win of the season and 46th of his Formula One career, took the chequered flag 0.9 seconds ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn had looked faster than Vettel for most of the afternoon. "I'm over the moon, that was a really difficult race," said the winner, who had to wrestle with a skewed steering wheel on a sweltering afternoon at the Hungaroring and had no room for error. Hamilton finished fourth after slowing down on the last lap and allowing Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas to go past, despite the loss of vital points to the Briton's championship challenge. Bottas had let Hamilton through on the 45th of the 70 laps, on the assurance that his team mate would hand back the place if he could not overtake the Ferraris, and the triple champion duly kept his word. "Really thanks to Lewis for keeping the promise in the end and letting me by," said Bottas. "I don't think every team mate would have swapped back." Hamilton, whose radio was malfunctioning for some of the race and would have had more of a chance had he got past Bottas earlier, said he had done what he had to do. "It's tough in the championship but I'm a man of my word," he said. "I did say that if I can't overtake them I would let him back through." On a circuit where overtaking is notoriously hard, the top five all finished in their starting order with Max Verstappen fifth for Red Bull. The Dutch teenager was handed a 10-second stop and go penalty for colliding with his Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap. The impact ended Ricciardo's race, with the car stranded on the track and fluid leaking from the broken radiator, and brought out the safety car. "It's not on. It was amateur to say the least. It's not like he was trying to pass – there was no room to pass," said an angry Ricciardo. "I don't think he likes it when a team mate gets in front. You've got the whole race to try and repair the mistake but the pass was never on. It wasn't even a pass, it was a very poor mistake." Fernando Alonso, who celebrated his 36th birthday on Saturday, gave struggling McLaren their best finish of the season so far by taking sixth place and also setting the fastest lap of the race.

1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona is viceless in Miami Scottsdale at Barrett-Jackson

We love the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona. It's most definitely a classic, made famous in part by its appearance as Don Johnson's favored ride in the classic '80s television series Miami Vice... but we won't hold that against it.
The specific example you see above just crossed the block at the 2013 Barrett-Jackson extravaganza in Scottsdale, and it cleared a cool $495,000 after the buyer's commission was factored in. The 1972 Daytona features a sweet-sounding V12 engine mated to a five-speed manual gearbox.
Plus, it's brown, with a tan interior. Stunning. Check it out in our high-res image gallery above, and be sure to read through its official auction description below.