Earlier this year, Ducati was given one of the highest honours to be bestowed upon any notable brand… having a model replica of its Panigale V4 R converted and sold in LEGO form.
OK, so perhaps not the ‘highest’ honour, but given there aren’t many low-fi ways for children to get excited about motorcycles without trying the real thing, a day spent constructing and no doubt researching the Ducati can only be a good thing.
But that doesn’t mean adults can’t have a go themselves, such as Riccardo Zangelmi, who took it upon himself to create his own replica (with LEGO’s blessing) but do so as a proper life-size model.
No doubt inspired by a similar project to create a Britten V1000 out of LEGO earlier this year, we’ve got to say side-by-side with the real thing the LEGO Panigale V4 R has a strikingly impressive resemblance to what is considered one of the best-looking bikes on the market.
Ignoring the temptation to use computer modelling first, this was pure hard graft and confidence from start-to-finish. In the end more than 15,000 LEGO and Technic pieces were used to create the finished product.
So impressed are Ducati that they wheeled out CEO Claudio Domenicali and its MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso to give it a grand unveiling.
Interestingly, the LEGO version was weighed to come in at 180kg, which is around 10kg more than the real thing’s 172kg weight. One may have an engine, but we wouldn’t mind having a go at trying to build our own…
