Lego and BMW have unveiled the latest set in the Speed Championship collection: a BMW M3 E30 with an exclusive livery. The set pays tribute to the 40th anniversary of a model that launched the successful series of high-performance saloons still in production today, albeit with a completely new approach, as revealed by William Thorogood, Head of Design, New Business at the Lego Group (the full interview will appear in Auto&Design no. 279).
Rather than reproducing the original colours of the E30, the designers have created something entirely new, drawing on the iconography of BMW M Motorsport. The result will be applied simultaneously to two objects on radically different scales: the brick set and a full-size BMW M3 E30 converted into a show car. The kit comprises 358 pieces spread over a length of seventeen centimetres. To best capture the car’s visual essence, the designers identified its characteristic elements (the kidney grille, the rear spoiler, the four round headlights) and replicated them whilst maintaining recognisability within the constraints of the construction. The seven-centimetre width dictates how each element can be attached to the main body, but it also forces designers to make drastic choices regarding what to include, what can be omitted, and how to suggest volumes that cannot be literally constructed.
As Thorogood points out, the main difficulty in designing these kits lies in the balance between recognisability and constructional feasibility. An overly simplified replica would lose its identifying features; one that is too detailed would require completely different proportions. The solution adopted opts for a conscious middle ground: key elements, such as the profile of the side, the proportions of the surfaces and the main volumes, are preserved, whilst secondary details are simplified.
The co-created livery takes on new meaning in this context. Applied to the surface of the replica, it organises the colour to emphasise the constructed forms, tracing lines that guide the eye towards the most important volumes. The E30, the car that symbolised 1980s motorsport, thus continues to function aesthetically credibly even when reduced to bricks and a custom livery. Indeed, the livery developed in collaboration between the BMW M Sport design team and the Lego team serves precisely to emphasise this historic identity through an entirely new visual journey.
