Just when you thought LEGO Speed Champions had run out of ways to surprise you…

Just when you thought LEGO Speed Champions had run out of ways to surprise you, along comes 77255 Lightning McQueen.

Celebrating 20 years since Disney Pixar’s Cars arrived in cinemas (hello, yes you are old, no there’s nothing anyone can do about it), 77255 Lightning McQueen is the first LEGO Speed Champions car not to include a driver, because in this world of sentient objects the car is the driver. But that’s not the only reason this 270-piece set should be on your radar in 2026 – it’s all about what’s under the hood…

In the Cars trilogy, what’s under the hood is not a series of strange vehicular bones but the voice of Owen Wilson, which feels fitting given this was my reaction to building 77255 Lightning McQueen:

There’s nothing in the exterior of this set to suggest it’s such an off-the-wall build even for Speed Champions, so you – like me – might have just assumed it would be a pretty run-of-the-mill experience. You know: break out the classic Speed Champions LEGO chassis, pop a few red bits on, add 800 stickers and call it a day. Well, think again.

First off – and run with me here – there’s no chassis piece at all. Open bag one (of five, which feels like far too many for such a small set but presumably is in aid of the Build Together experience touted on the box) and you’re right into stacking brackets and clips, and before you know it you’ve got the core of a car. More specifically the core of LEGO Lightning McQueen. His big old plastic skeleton, around which the rest of this 270-piece feat of brick-based engineering comes together.

That’s all made possible by the fact that there’s no need for any cabin space here. You can’t access the interior of Lightning McQueen when all’s said and done and honestly, why would you want to? The implications of cracking open his roof and feasting on the goo inside is too much to think about. But the absence of a traditional chassis element also means there’s more room to play with on the underside of the car, which allows for the trademark side exhausts and even a little extra detail you’ll only see if McQueen flips his ride during a race.

Up top, the additional space is used in a pretty novel way for attaching the back of the car and the spoiler, while there are trademark Speed Champions SNOT techniques on display from bumper to bumper. It adds up to yet another build that offers way more than you would expect for the price – typical of the theme at this point – even if there’s an argument to be made that 77255 Lightning McQueen should have been a little bit cheaper.

That’s because it’s launching alongside 77256 Time Machine from Back to the Future, a set that includes nearly 100 more pieces and two minifigures for the same price. Hold both boxes at the same time and the DeLorean’s is noticeably bigger and heavier (as you’d assume). So while £22.99 / $27.99 / €27.99 feels pretty fair for that one, the same price for Lightning McQueen stings just a bit – all the more so because the absence of a minifigure hasn’t really impacted the number of stickers versus prints.

And make no mistake, you’re going to want to apply every sticker here for the full effect. This isn’t a Formula 1 car where you can leave off certain sponsors – every sticker is crucial to realising the look of the movie character. So you’ll need to align all 22 of them, and just live with the inevitable gaps between them that mean McQueen’s lightning bolt decals don’t quite line up as you’d hope.

Tyres aside, there are nine printed pieces here in total, and you’ll find most of them around the rear rims, which are themselves printed, along with the edges of the 1×1 plates stacked on top and the sloped elements that sit just above them. None of those would have been much fun to sticker, so the team at least had the right priorities if the budget couldn’t stretch any further – but it’s still disappointing to see stickered headlights given Speed Champions’ previous focus on prints there.

None of that is really enough to make 77255 Lightning McQueen anything other than a wholehearted day-one recommendation for hardcore LEGO Speed Champions and/or LEGO Cars fans, though – and for everyone not quite so deep into this collection just yet, it’ll be an easy purchase once it drops in price by 20% or more. It’s something very different for this veteran theme and a very nice surprise with which to kick off the wider 2026 portfolio.

Our honest opinion: You’ll want to race to your local LEGO Store to get your hands on this one faster than fast and quicker than quick. Ka-Chow indeed.

This LEGO set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

You can support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO using our affiliate links. See you at the finish line…

How many stickers are in LEGO Lightning McQueen?

77255 Lightning McQueen includes 22 stickers, which is pretty average for a LEGO Speed Champions set.

How long does LEGO Speed Champions Lightning McQueen take to build?

You’ll spend around 45 minutes putting together 77255 Lightning McQueen, with a build experience that’s as surprising as it is enjoyable.

How many pieces are in 77255 Lightning McQueen?

77255 Lightning McQueen includes just 270 pieces, six of which are printed.

How much does LEGO Cars Lightning McQueen cost?

LEGO Speed Champions 77255 Lightning McQueen retails for £22.99 in the UK, $27.99 in the US and from €27.99 in Europe, and races on to shelves on January 1, 2026. It’s available to pre-order from LEGO.com and third-party retailers now.