Sponsored: How we raced and built the BMW M 1000 RR thanks to LEGO® Technic™

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Recently, the folks over at The LEGO® Group teamed up with us here at Traxion.GG for the release of the LEGO® Technic™ BMW M 1000 RR model. At 1:5 of the scale of the real deal and rocking 1,920 pieces to put together, the LEGO Group left it up to us for how we went about building it. In typical Traxion.GG fashion, we did something ridiculous. 

John and I decided to make it a race and settled on a ten-hour build time. Ride 4, a title by Milestone featuring the same BMW M 1000 RR, split across Suzuka, the Guia Circuit in Macau, and the infamous Nordschleife.  

In theory, those laps will total ten hours, and I all had to do was complete the build before John crossed the line at the Nürburgring. To make things more interesting, we live-streamed the entire process on the Traxion.GG YouTube channel and you can still watch it in full if you so wish! 

Building the Lego Technic BMW M 1000 RR set made the eventual 11-hour, 45-minute stream absolutely fly by. Starting off with arguably the most intricate part of the build, the functional gearbox also features moving pistons, a staple of many LEGO Technic models.

As you begin to surround the engine block with reinforcements and detailing, you move on to the display stand, which bears the first and largest sticker in the set, detailing the specs of the real M 1000 RR you’re building. 

Having the stand built so early on makes the process of making this engine block look more like an actual motorcycle a breeze. You have working suspension pieces on both the front and back wheels, with the handlebars also working to turn the front wheel. As for the back wheel, a gold chain is strung through to the engine block – what a challenge it was to put all the 62 pieces together for this element. 

Moving onto the bodywork itself, this is where the majority of the stickers come in, featuring the tri-colour BMW M branding. This is where I hit my first snafu, having used the wrong extension piece on step 619. Woe is me. The LEGO Group doesn’t get its instructions wrong, so read them carefully! 

In my defence, I was in a race with John, who was quite happily romping through his finals laps on the Nordschleife at this point. I wouldn’t say that moment cost me the race, but we’ll run with that anyway. 

When completed, this bike is one of the most stunning, convincing LEGO Technic models ever designed. Seeing the bodywork parts I’ve used on entirely different models work to create a motorbike’s side panels rather than a rear wing on a McLaren Senna model always astonishes me. 

The designers creating these products have my utmost respect. The detail on this 1:5 scale replica blew me away, from the incredibly convincing brake pads and lines on the front wheel to having three interchangeable dashboard pieces.

If you’re a motorcycle fan, enjoy motorsport, or just love building LEGO Technic models, you’ll have a blast building the Lego Technic BMW M 1000 RR set. 

Thank you so much to The LEGO 

The LEGO Technic BMW M 1000 RR 42130 set is now available from the LEGO Shop.