The Ferrari Daytona Is A Beautiful Beast!

Review of the Ferrari Daytona SP3 #42143 LEGO Technic set

Every two or so years, LEGO starts a new plan shrouded in veils of studded mystery. The speculations as to which will be the next LEGO supercar that deep-pocketed fans will get their hands on, go at least as wild as Apple rumours every year before a new iPhone release. And can you blame them? Can you blame any of us AFOLs for biting our nails every two years in anticipation? These are, for all intents and purposes 1:8 scale replicas of current iconic supercars from the likes of Porsche, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and this time, Ferrari.

LEGO’s Ferrari Daytona SP3 has a somewhat unique story, and perhaps that’s also why I felt a tad of extra excitement in the air as it was set to launch a couple of months ago. Of course, just like the previous three, the Ferrari is also a licensed set, except this one was tougher on the LEGO designers. Normally, they’d get an actual car to look at and design the set around it. Except this time, as the real car was being designed and built in parallel with the LEGO set. This meant that nobody on the Danish toymaker’s end really had a full picture of what the car was meant to end up looking like. Bits of designs and specs kept trickling in from the Italian carmaker, which then were used to gradually build the set up.

Ferrari launched the Daytona SP3 in 2022, and so did LEGO, except the latter you get to build yourself!

To date, this is the most expensive LEGO Technic 1:8 scale supercar LEGO ever released. At 400 euros, it isn’t an easy swallow, not even for deep-pocketed fans. The only supercar I skipped was the Bugatti, as I was never a Bugatti fan, however, the Ferrari is on an entirely different emotional connection level, so I wasn’t going to miss it. I was always a Ferrari F1 fan. Naturally, the Daytona couldn’t be skipped.

The packaging, as always, is luxurious and unique. The Ferrari set takes that even further, as the entire box looks like a 6×2 brick rather than a regular box. This is both great and not. If you tend to store the boxes away, this will be a tough one to find space for, and flattening it isn’t a great idea either. The inner, wide and narrow boxes, are also cool but just as tough to deal with afterwards. What LEGO went for here was more unboxing experience than practicality, and if the latter doesn’t matter to you, this set makes no compromises on the former. Three numbered inner boxes, with a total of seven major stages of numbered bags, and two thick-as-hell instruction manuals.

With every supercar release, LEGO takes an evolutionary step, both in presentation and build experience.

And I really mean that. I have quite recently built the Lamborghini Sian, which is another breathtaking 1:8 supercar, and I still vividly remember building the Porsche a few years ago.

The Ferrari Daytona is definitely on another level, and compared to the Lamborghini, I can totally see that LEGO learned from every previous car something. Here’s just a few I picked up on:

• These cars really need tough springs. The new suspension system in the Daytona works really well. Not only stronger, but also better-looking, albeit bulkier, so less suitable for smaller builds.
• The use of System parts can take the set a lot further than just Technic pieces. The front and back of the Daytona makes excellent use of a couple of hundred System pieces.
• Details matter. With the Daytona, you get some access to the engine, the gear-shifting mechanism, removable “Aperta” style roof, and jaw-dropping butterfly doors you’d see in an Enzo or LaFerrari. While the Dayton’s doors feel a tad floppy, I think these are the best-looking doors LEGO ever put in a Technic set.

The Ferrari Daytona SP3 is also a great opportunity to mark the end of V12 engines in Ferrari road cars. To see LEGO get in on this last iteration, is something car fans across the world, I believe, will appreciate.

In terms of build, this set is as tough as any Technic 1:8 scale supercar would be, but I wouldn’t call it overly complex. None of them are, though, out of the current four, this one, due to the extra details, feels a tad more laborious, than the previous ones did. Throughout the entire build, I only had three or four WTF moments when I really had to look to analyse the instructions and understand where things go. If anything, I think some of the steps could have been merged into one. Either way, building the Daytona SP3 is less about Technic skills, and a lot more about patience. Given a leisurely pace, about 12 hours of it in my case.

Speaking of instructions and patience, there is one rather silly mistake in the set. At the end of the build, you’re left with two black fins. The uninitiated might assume, they’re spare parts. Let me tell you, parts like that will never be spare parts! LEGO isn’t that generous. Not even on a 400 euro set! If you check the underside of the car, you’ll find two red pins waiting for something. That’s where your black fins go. You’re welcome! 😉 Saved you some sleepless nights wondering where those go.

While to err is human, luxury sets resembling luxury cars leaves very little space for error, and LEGO needs to pay particular attention going forward to issues that some hard-core fans tend not to forget.

Twelve hours later, what you get is a beautiful beast. I think going with the red version actually compliments the car better than any other colour would have. It somehow combines the classic Ferrari with the modern design. At 59 cm length, this car needs some serious shelf space. Now, of course, you’re welcome to take it apart and build whatever else your heart desires out of the pieces, but I see most fans keeping this set as is, as a display set.

You get all the usual multi-speed working gearbox with differential — though with new parts, this time, individual suspension for each wheel, working pistons in the engine, steering, opening bonnet — this time with no silly bag — and an opening back to reveal the engine. Some LEGO Technic fans will argue that these are nothing to write home about, but on the other hand these are the main functionalities a supercar has, so LEGO isn’t taking anything away, just replicating what the actual cars do.

Part of the appeal of the LEGO Technic supercars is the design’s marriage with real, working functions, emulating the actual car. The Ferrari Daytona SP3 delivers on both, as beautifully and as accurately as LEGO bricks allow.

Hi there! 👋

Recently, I started a new publication — Bricks n’ Brackets — dedicated to LEGO, tech and coding. It would mean a huge deal to me if you’d follow it, though only do so, if any of those topics pique your interest. You can also read more about why I started it and what my overall goal with it is. You can also join as a writer if you’d like, as long as you submit articles around those three topics. The publication also has a YouTube, Instagram and TikTok channel. Thank you, and may the gods of creativity and success guide your day!

Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, LEGO fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer! Read my Hello story here!