This LEGO Speed Champions space-ification by EricTheSkeleton is giving me some serious “2013” vibes. For it was a decade ago that we were introduced to GARC, or the Galactic Asteroid Rally Circuit. And while Eric’s terrific speedsters are more “circuit” than “rally,” they still leave me pining for the golden age of LEGO space racing. With all the recent Speed Champions options out there now, maybe it’s time for a comeback…
I love racing. Not that I do it myself, but there is something enthralling about watching vehicles (or even just persons or animals) moving at high speeds in a winner-take-all contest. From track meets to Formula 1, NASCAR to podracing, I love watching races (n.b. I don’t actually watch car races, typically, but scenes in movies, like Cars, get me excited). And what goes faster than a car? A spaceship, of course! This small LEGO craft by Tim Goddard looks highly maneuverable, barely fitting a minifigure so that it can squeeze into the small gates that mark the course. The transparent 4×4 dish perfectly complements the windscreen to form a lovely canopy, and the color blocking is superb. Perhaps even better than the raceship is the triangular teal gate, with just the right amount of greebling to balance the smooth curves. And the stickers enhance it all the more. Gentlemen, start your thrusters!
Even though the Micro-GARCs had it’s last race of the season it’s still great to see builders continuing and building minifigure sized Galactic Asteroid Rally Circuit racers! Thomas W. (Sylon-tw) keeps up the fun by building this wonderful Octan sponsored racer:
I really like how Thomas completes the build with this really interesting garage-hangar. I’m fascinated by the really neat techniques on the hangar doors and other wall elements. But let’s not forget the main attraction, the racer itself:
He gets bonus points from me for lovely curve integration and silky smooth bottom (gotta be aerodynamic in space, right?)
I’ve never been totally clear on what GARC stands for, but I know that this sub-genre of racing spaceships has incubated a whole bunch of awesome looking speed demons over the past year.
Leading the pack on this lap is the Galactic F1 by Henry Oberholtzer (Agent WHO)
With sleek lines and clean stripes, this racer just screams fast.
Every so often I come the realization that there are builders out there that get overlooked. And quite often I am the one doing the overlooking. Case in point being Magic Tuba Pixie.
I was browsing through his photostream while on my lunch break today and just generally admiring the builds. But it was then that I realized I had rarely commented or acknowledged them. These were all models that I had seen before, but I simply had not made an effort to voice my appreciation of them. So now I am making up for lost time and want to share a few of my favourites.
Brian’s most recent model is quite possibly the most adorable little spaceship ever:
The Hardcore Sunfish reminds me that GARC is still awesome:
Ornj is the new black:
And last buy not least is the crazy fresh style that is the Famicom Selecta:
Adrian Florea clearly wields a protractor like a geometric Jedi. The varying angles and protruding shapes, coupled with the masterfully complex colour blocking, make his GARC – CopII a very interesting ship to look at. The background story is also good for a chuckle…
Sadly I seem to have somehow missed this fantastic render by TFDesigns. But thankfully I have seen it now.
Not only is the image itself a brilliant editing job, but the design of the t-shirt trailer is top notch. Awesome job all around!!
Edit:
Also check out his LowRover :)
Although it’s unlikely I’ll be able to contribute to this latest LEGO bandwagon, I’ve certainly enjoyed watching the new models come out of the GARC craze. Built in my favorite color, VolumeX‘s TEAM G-Hornet46 includes some really interesting parts usage under all those stickers — especially the light & sound brick from the Insectoids sets of the late ’90s.
Tough luck to TR that I got in first on this GARC. With his Rendez-Vous, Nathan Proudlove shows he’s clearly a fan of rainbow warriors.
Andrew Lee (onosendai2600) took the classic Town racing set 6395 and applied a liberal amount of GARC to it. The result is the most delicious group of space raceships I have ever laid eyes on.
Andrew built 4 very distinctive and unique ships to represent the different cars from the set. Each one is awesome in it’s own right, and I am finding it very hard to pick my favourite. But I am going to have to choose the blue one, if for no other reason than it has an Ice Planet 2002 tile.
You simply have to browse through the full photoset to see all the brilliant details of each ship!
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a genuinely successful LEGO bandwagon — remember Cave Racers and IATTAR? — but it looks like GARC (which, as you may recall, is a thing) is taking off quite nicely.
One of my favorites so far is this garish beauty by Uspez Morbo that he calls the “Techno Ohmu” (Uspez gets additional points for the Miyazaki reference).
For the uninitiated, “GARC” stands for Galactic Asteroid Rally Circuit, and each space-racer must meet the following requirements:
- Must have 2 crew members per ship (pilot & navigator)
- No weapons
- Must look FAST :)
- The crazier the colour scheme the better
In addition, the builder of the LEGO model must post a picture of the racer being swooshed. Why? Because SPACE! Duh.
No less garish but in somewhat more traditional colors, this GARC racer by Ted Andes sports a spoiler to keep the “Torranix Quattro 5” firmly pressed to the racecourse in the vacuum of space.
Finally, halfbeak gets in on the action with his “Ajax Xenojet-Z” in my favorite color.
Ouch! I’m off to rest my weary eyes…
Because spacers take things that are awesome and make them more awesome by adding SPACE!!!!
