Set Review ➟ LEGO® Speed Champions 76925 Aston Martin Safety Car & AMR23
June 1st | 564pcs | US$44.99
Since January's excellent 76919 McLaren MCL60 F1 car, I’ve been keenly awaiting this Aston Martin twin pack featuring the 2023 Aston Martin F1 car and the Vantage F1 safety car. Before we get to the builds though, there are a pair of elephants in the room...
Firstly, the color. The real cars are a metallic green somewhere between Lego Green and Dark Green, with a turquoise tint. Clearly the set's choice of standard Green is not an accurate match, but then any existing Lego color was going to be a compromise. Personally, I don't mind the color, but I can understand how some might be put off.
Secondly, both builds look very similar to previous Speed Champions cars (i.e. 2022's Vantage from 76910 and this year's 76919 MCL60). While the AMR23 is in fact very similar in build, with only a few changes beyond the recolor to green, the Vantage turned out to be quite different in its build despite similar external shaping.
Box & Contents
The front box art features both cars on a pitlane exit, while the back shows off the rear view and cockpits of each build, plus a comparison of the Lego AMR23 with its real-life F1 counterpart. The color difference is very obvious here, and notably absent is any image of the real Vantage safety car. Inside we have three bags for each car, a pair of instruction booklets, a pair of sticker sheets, and two chassis elements. Now on to the builds!
ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE SAFETY CAR
Build Process
The bespectacled minifigure appears to be loosely modeled on real F1 safety car driver Bernd Mayländer, which is a nice touch. The chassis has a stickered central console, and a 1x2 curved arch smoothly leads up to the dashboard. There's a whole lot of internal color vomit here though, with plates in Dark Pink, Orange, Purple, and Lime Green, Yellow, and Red.
As the build progresses, points of note are the 1x1 teeth plates as side vents behind the front axle, four of the new notched 1x2 tiles (#5091/92) used above the front fenders, and a complex SNOT bar/clip assembly mounted in the rear for later attachment of the rear windscreen. The rear wing is also mounted using bar/clip hinges.
The rear tail-light shaping will be familiar to owners of the 2022 Vantage set, though it is achieved slightly differently this time. The exhausts are mounted very low under Trans Red 1x1 plates, and while lights here are accurate, you might choose to leave these plates out. The rear windshield is cleverly mounted at exactly the right angle to match the C-pillar wedges. The front splitter section captures the iconic Aston Martin Grille, and I love the look of the 4x4 curved wedge (#45677) used for the hood. The main windshield element is nicely printed, and the attached light bar can also easily be left off if you'd rather build a race car than a pace car.
Features & Functions
The Vantage has a simple yet nice interior. The lack of any engine under the front hood is a bit of a miss though, as there‘s easily enough room for a #50943 engine block. While the rear windshield is securely mounted, the rear wing is also a bit wobbly. I thought this may have been intended as a play feature (adjustable spoiler!), but I suspect it's just a consequence of how the wing mounting fits around the complex tail-light assembly.
Overall Impression
Sure, the color isn't accurate. But looking past that, I really love this build. I was a big fan of 2022's Vantage and this one is just as good, while also being sufficiently different in construction and appearance to justify its existence. The prints (rear badge, front headlights, and windscreen) are all excellent, and the stickers are what they should be, i.e. optional extras for those who choose to apply them.
One thing we have to talk about though is the internal color vomit. I get that Lego likes to use bright internal coloring for ease of construction, and that some parts may be color-locked in any given year, but this case felt a bit extreme. Sure, experienced AFOLs can easily swap out the pink and purple parts out, but what of those whose collection may be just beginning? Custom building will then be quite limited with so many brightly coloured parts needing to be hidden away. And surely color variation for ease of building can be done with a less jarring and varied internal color palette.
As much as I love this car, there is also still some room for modification. You might want to add an engine block, and the mounting of the rear wing could also be made more secure. One further change worth considering is the attachment of the light bar (see below). The odd (5-stud) width requires it to be mounted rather high, and reference pictures suggest it should also be mounted further rearwards. Attaching the light bar instead to the top of the rear windshield is arguably more accurate and also allows for a lower position.
Modified light bar positioning compared with real safety car
ASTON MARTIN AMR23 F1 CAR
Build Process
On to the F1 build! While I'm all for female drivers, it has to be said that the minifigure choice here is unfortunate. While few will lament Lance Stroll's absence, a generic male figure would at least let us pretend to have the Goat himself, Fernando Alonso.
The build is very much a repeat of January’s McLaren F1 set, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as modern F1 cars are very similar in shape, and Lego’s MCL60 is an excellent design. For those yet to build either set, points to note are the bucket-handle suspension arms, flex tube Halo device, the ski element between wedges towards the rear, SNOT-built sidepods using new curved wedge elements, and of course the pair of spoons in Black for side mirrors.
There are some bright blue and yellow parts in the interior, though these are also colors found on the sponsor stickers. Printed elements include the nose slope (printed on both the top and sides), a 1x1 half-round tile, the steering wheel, helmet, T-camera 1x2 tile, the 2x2 wheel hubs, and the tire side-walls. Areas where the build differs from the McLaren set are the sidepod shaping, the more pronounced 'shoulders' inboard of the rear axle, and the design of the rear wing.
Features & Functions
As with the McLaren, the front bargeboards and T-camera are easily bumped out of position. The rear tail-light is also less secure than one might wish, mounted with a 1x1 tile clip. But the build is otherwise very stable. You will want to thoroughly pre-bend the Halo flex tube though, as this element can tend to push outwards against the sidepod SNOT assemblies.
Overall Impression
If you liked the McLaren then you'll no doubt like this one too. If you don't feel the need to own two very similar F1 builds, then there's not much to choose between them beyond personal preference. Speaking for myself, I'll gladly pick up as many versions of this F1 design as Lego are willing to produce!
There are a lot of stickers here, yet the model looks great with or without them (although the deluxe nose printing will leave an unstickered rear looking a little plain). Other than the absence of Fernando, the only other flaw here is the very blocky rear wing. This design choice was presumably driven by sponsor sticker considerations, but the wing is almost completely solid which rather defeats its aerodynamic purpose. So this is one area you may wish to modify, and if you're not concerned with applying stickers then you might find that spoiler part #30925 works better than the set's 1x4 curved brick (#10314).
Modified rear wing and diffuser (some extra parts used)
Final Thoughts
Maybe I'm biased in favor of the source material, but I really do love this set. Fair points against it are the inaccurate color and the fact that both the Vantage and 2023 F1 car have already been done before. But I don't care. Both cars look really great, were fun to build, and are very nicely designed (with the few minor flaws merely providing scope for modification). As a themed twin pack, these two cars work really well together and I hope we'll see even more of the F1 grid making their way onto Lego shelves in the future.
# We wish to thank LEGO for providing this set for review. The opinions in this review are not supported or endorsed by LEGO.
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