A real sports car is more than the sum of its parts. The same is true for this tremendously authentic-looking version made of plastic. It’s more than a model. It’s a work of art and a fascinating experience. It’s not easy to impress Frank-Steffen Walliser, a mechanical engineer and the head of Porsche Motorsport and GT vehicles. He keeps pressing the shift paddles. The dual-clutch transmission goes into action, and the gears click in. An entirely normal course of events in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. But this Lava Orange model is not parked in front of the building outside. It’s standing on his desk, and it’s from Lego. As a child, Walliser made cars from sets of plastic bricks from the Danish company–such as the car with article number 8860. It had 662 components, a boxer engine, differential, rear-wheel suspension, and precision steering. “That model did a lot to fuel my interest in cars, which later led me to study engineering and work in the field.” But this one here? Incredible!

Uwe Wabra, a senior designer in the Lego Technic Team, has brought along an 8860 model from 1980 in comparison, the GT3 RS looks like it comes from another world. Wabra and his team spent about two years developing it. It has 2,704 parts, of which fewer than 10 percent are new. The rest are all previously existing Lego Technic elements. The rims, of course, are new. Porsche only! These black works of art are available only as part of this set–along with a plaque that has a laser-engraved serial number. As unique as a fingerprint, it is a piece that you save for the very end. Click. It’s in. It’s finished. The moment of joy is finally here, with part number 2,704 now in place.

Eight meetings were held with Porsche experts from the start of the project in 2013 to the final prototype. Wabra built about forty until they made the perfect one. In the fall of 2015, the result was presented to Frank-Steffen Walliser and Andreas Preuninger, the overall project head for GT road cars. That was the first time the recently completed Porsche 911 GT3 RS met its little brother from Denmark. The presentation of the model to the public in the spring of 2016 was similar to the unveiling of a real Porsche. It was kept under wraps during the lead-up to the big toy fairs in London and Nuremberg. The fans on the exhibition floors went crazy.This makes the Porsche model one of the largest ever developed at the site in Billund. It takes Wabra about ten hours to put the miniature sports car together. Lego fans, even skilled ones, need considerably more time. A real challenge. Be ready for some long evenings. Wabra, who is a vintage car fan, has had a different objective in mind since his visit to the Porsche Museum. “A Porsche 356. A real one. Not a model. That’s my dream.”