LEGO Speed Champions 75888: Porsche 911 RSR and 911 Turbo [Review]

2018 marks the fourth year for Speed Champions, LEGO’s minifigure-scale line of licensed vehicles. As with nearly all the previous lineups, the six sets in this year’s wave focus on sports and racing cars. We’re kicking off our reviews with set 75888 Porsche 911 RSR and 911 Turbo 3.0, which features new and classic versions of the iconic sports car that’s defined the luxury brand for more than half a century. The set also includes a tiny bit of trackway with a lap clock, along with drivers for each car and a support crewman. It includes 391 pieces and retails for $29.99 USD. 

The box

The glossy box shows the two German sportscars racing around Porsche’s Leipzig test track with the distinct shape of Porsche’s Customer Centre looming in the background.

On the back, we see another view of the Customer Centre, as well as a few action shots and pictures of the models’ real-life counterparts, the 2017 Porsche 911 RSR and 1975 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 (930).

Inside are three numbered bags, two instruction manuals, and a sizable swatch of stickers. Both cars get the decorative treatment, but the classic green Porsche comes out largely unaltered by the makeover. The RSR, however, is coated from head to toe, though they’re surprisingly subtle on the finished model.

The build

The first instruction booklet and the first parts bag are for the 911 Turbo 3.0. The lime green car uses a variety of plates for the chassis, but interestingly does not employ a specific “car chassis” element like nearly all the rest of this Speed Champions wave. There’s plenty of lime green to go around on this car, including a number of elements appearing for the first time in this hue, such as the wheel arches. 

The back of the 911 Turbo is nearly complete before the front is even begun. There’s a nice little Turbo decal on the rear deck, which is nearly hidden beneath the spoiler on the finished model. The tail lights are a single curved plate spanning the width of the car, which is a perfect solution for the 911’s wraparound taillights, except perhaps that the corners should have orange indicators. But you can’t have everything, and this seems like the most elegant solution.Like all hardtop Speed Champions racers, the windscreen and roof lift off for driver access. The inside is nicely decked out in rich brown and tan leather, though the controls are sparse, being limited to just a steering wheel.

Moving on to the RSR, the interior is colorful and based around a standard black chassis element. It’s now become standard for Speed Champions cars to have some clever work on the side panels surrounding the driver, and this car is no exception, employing multiple types of SNOT bricks and plates to get everything flush. Even a little way into the build, stickers abound, with lots of small stickers for the RSR’s nose chevrons. One interesting detail is the use of the new rounded 1×2 plate behind the doors, standing duty for air intakes. It’s too small a spot for a 1×1 round plate, and any traditional square-ended plate would have created an awkwardly sharp edge here, so this is a perfect place for the new element. Again, the roof lifts for driver access, this time revealing a red and black interior similarly outfitted with only a steering wheel.

The finished models & minifigures

1975 goes down in history as the first year the 911 got a forced-induction boost and began bearing the Turbo moniker that’s now almost synonymous with the model. The lime green is an authentic color choice, and in fact, is actually called “lime green” in Porsche’s 1975 color charts.

The 911 is an infamously curvacious car, and the shaping here is spot on, especially for classic bug-eye headlights, thanks to the artful integration of a few Technic elements. Unfortunately, these Technic pieces are just a tiny shade of green different than the rest of the car, at least on our review model, but that doesn’t detract from the smooth flow of the car’s lines.

The car is a little bit out of proportion lengthwise, coming in about a stud longer than it should. The final result gives it the silhouette of a more modern 911 than the tiny proportions of the early models.

The ludicrously huge “whale tail” spoiler is iconic to the older generations of Turbos, and looks excellent here, even managing to get the two-toned effect of a black lip around a body-color center. While we haven’t been able to confirm it, we’d guess that the license plate is the model designer’s birthday or a similarly significant date. The single exhaust pipe is a great use for the new espresso filter element. (And much to my chagrin, I applied the rear window stickers upside down. No, it’s not a sunroof!)One key difference from the real-life model is the wheels, which lack the distinctive black hubs. The grey LEGO hubs also protrude beyond the rubber, which has the odd effect of making this well-bred German machine look like a tuner with stance. The headlights and black grille also give the car a bit of a froggish look, but that can’t all be blamed on the LEGO model.Much as the Turbo 3.0 had heralded a sea change in 1975 with a move from naturally aspirated engines, so too the 2017 911 RSR breaks significant new ground. This sleek car is the first Porsche to bear the 911 name and not feature a rear-mounted engine. After more than 50 years, the designers at Porsche have moved the engine in front of the rear axle to create a mid-engined 911, and after racking up multiple wins in its first year, it’s hard to argue with the results.

The LEGO version looks just as menacing as the car that inspired it, from the huge black splitter below the nose to the even bigger rear wing. The silhouette here looks much more accurate, as the two LEGO  911s share dimensions, despite the real RSR stretching more than 10 inches longer than the classic 911.
From the back, the RSR looks just as good, with the diffuser jutting out from below the deck lid. Just like on the real car, the rear “window” over the engine is fake, though the white stripe splitting the design is an unfortunate side effect of the stickers going over multiple elements. Trans-orange teeth stand in for the tail lights.

Despite hosting a full 25 stickers, the mostly white car looks uniformly classy. A few real-life sponsors appear in the stickers, such as Michelin and Mobil 1 (unlike the Ford Mustang, which featured faux advertisements).

Finally, there’s the bit of Porsche’s Leipzig test track, including a lap board and painted curbing. It’s just enough to give the feeling that these cars are racing on a motorsport track and not simply zooming around your floor or desk. The lap board features a 2×2 brick with stickers on all four sides that can be rotated to show the lap number. It’s a nifty little feature that relies on a single stud connection below the brick rather than a turntable. Consequently, the lap marker stays firmly in place when rotated.

Included are three minifigures; a driver for each car, plus a Porsche technician. The classic Porsche driver wears a jacket matching her car, while the other two minifigures wear identical white Porsche Design jumpsuits. All three minifigures feature printing on the torso backs.Besides being equipped with a wrench (which doubles as a human tool for removing the cars’ hubcaps), the technician also gets a huge position placard showing which car is ahead.The position indicators are stickers applied to a Technic beam, so it can be rotated to change the status.

Conclusion & recommendation

If you’re a fan of Porsche (as I admittedly am) then getting two of the brand’s most well-known cars in a single set is pure joy. Keen fans, however, will note that this isn’t the first time for this feat, as 75912 Porsche 911 GT Finish Line from 2015 also featured a pair of 911s. However, while that set was cool, both the 911 Turbo and the RSR capture the look of the 911 better than the design featured in that 2015 set, thanks in part to a number of new elements released over the past three years.

Both of these models are among the best Speed Champions has to offer, but the classic 911 Turbo is a particularly fun bit of heritage. And at nearly 400 pieces for $29.99, it’s a great deal, too, coming in at exactly the same price as two standalone Speed Champions vehicles. The third minifigure and track edge are pure bonuses.

75888 Porsche 911 RSR and 911 Turbo 3.0 will be available on March 1st. You can purchase it from the LEGO Shop Online or Amazon.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

---

Check out all the photos below.