LEGO Ferrari Daytona SP3 (42143)

Name: LEGO Ferrari Daytona SP3
Brand: LEGO
SKU: 42143

The prettiest Technic supercar yet, and a proper long weekend of building.

Brick Rated Score

4.2/5

Set 42143 · 2022

Pieces3,778

Minifigsn/a

Year2022

Set number42143

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The verdict

If you love cars and you have got the shelf space and the budget, this one is easy to recommend.

It is the best looking Technic supercar to date, and the mix of Technic guts with smooth System panels gives it curves the old sets could only dream of. Just go in knowing it is a serious time and money commitment, and that under the bodywork it shares a lot of DNA with the Bugatti and Lamborghini before it.

Best for: adult car nuts who want a display piece with real mechanical guts inside

The full review

What it is

The Ferrari Daytona SP3 is the one Technic supercar that stops me mid-scroll every time. It is a 1:8 scale recreation of Ferrari's Icona hypercar, and it was the biggest and priciest supercar Technic had made when it landed in 2022. What makes it special is the honesty of it. You get all the mechanical theatre Technic is known for, a real gearbox and a V12 that pumps its pistons as you push it along, but LEGO wrapped it in smooth System panels so the body actually looks like a Ferrari instead of a pile of beams. Those flowing haunches and that low nose are properly hard to pull off in bricks, and this LEGO set nails them.

The catch

I will be straight with you, because this set asks a lot of you. It is 3,778 pieces and most builders clock around 20 hours, more if you go wrong, and going wrong is a real risk here. The printed instruction manuals shipped with genuine errors, and LEGO patched some of the digital pages but not all of them, so it is worth checking the corrected instructions before you start a tricky section. The other thing that comes up a lot is that the skeleton underneath is not new. The chassis layout, the sequential gearbox and the V12 are largely lifted from the Bugatti Chiron and Lamborghini Sian that came before it, so if you have built one of those, the mechanical middle third will feel familiar rather than fresh. And it is expensive, with a big display footprint to match, so it is not an impulse grab.

Who it's for

If you are a car person who wants something to build over a long weekend and then show off for years, this is about as good as Technic gets. It rewards patience, the finished model looks the business from every angle, and the red just pops. If you are newer to Technic, or you already own the Bugatti or the Lamborghini and were hoping for a totally different engineering experience, temper your expectations a touch, because the wow here is mostly in the bodywork rather than the guts. It is also worth knowing it is retiring, so if it is on your list, I would not sit on it too long. For the right fan, though, it is a keeper.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build opens with one of the hardest parts first, the gearbox, which takes roughly 90 minutes but is surprisingly clear thanks to well drawn diagrams. From there you work outward through the chassis, the mid-mounted V12 with its moving pistons, the suspension and steering, and finally the bodywork. That last stretch is where the set changes character. Instead of endless Technic beams you start clicking on curved System panels, and watching those flat red shells turn into a recognisable Ferrari is the payoff for all the earlier mechanical graft. The pacing is good, with real variety between the fiddly internal mechanisms and the more satisfying panel work near the end.

For parts hunters this thing is a feeder set. There is a stack of new panel moulds and a pile of recolours currently unique to this set, including things like the Technic pins with friction ridges in red, plus useful curved elements that MOC builders were quick to grab. Everything is printed rather than stickered, right down to the display plaque, which keeps the finish clean and consistent. At 3,778 pieces for its price it works out around 12 cents a part, which is fair for a licensed flagship, and the sheer volume of red and silver lacquered elements makes it a treasure chest if you like raiding sets for spares.

Fun facts

01The real Daytona SP3 is a $2.25 million hypercar limited to just 599 units, named after Ferrari's famous 1-2-3 finish at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967.
02Its 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 makes 828 hp at 9,250 rpm, one of the most powerful road-going V12s Ferrari had ever built at launch.
03LEGO recreated the car at 1:8 scale with a genuine 8-speed sequential gearbox and paddle shifters, and the whole set is sticker-free with every detail printed.
04Most builders report around a 20-hour build, and it opens with the gearbox, meaning you tackle one of the trickiest sub-assemblies right at the start.