The two eras of LEGO Speed Champions, head to head 

Major changes have been made to LEGO Speed Champions over the past decade, but none as game-changing as the shift from six studs to eight.

As LEGO Speed Champions celebrates its 10th anniversary as one of the most unpredictable but significant themes the LEGO Group has debuted, Brick Fanatics is diving deep into its extensive history, including the monumental decision to switch from six-stud wide cars to eight-wide vehicles in 2020.

"We just thought eight is a better number than six, that was it really [laughs]," said LEGO Design Lead Chris Stamp on the change in a 2020 interview with Brick Fanatics. "No, the same as with any product line, we listen a lot to the consumers.

"As well as doing a lot of the internal testing, we constantly watch YouTube video reviews, read the magazines, and read the comments on LEGO.com and all of the different shopping websites, because we can’t just walk up to people in the street, we can’t just hang out all day in the LEGO Store."

The significance of this shift in design cannot be understated with an increase in detail and accuracy but a shift away from the origins of LEGO Speed Champions, creating two distinct eras in the theme. The ramifications of this decision are still being felt throughout the portfolio and community to this day, and it's time to put the two eras head to head to see whether the change was worthwhile.

Breaking down the numbers

LEGO Speed Champions' first era (of six-wide cars) began in 2015 and lasted until 2020, when the theme shifted to eight-wide vehicles. It wasn't the biggest change in culture for the year, but for LEGO fans, it proved to be an unusual shift for the theme – which had previously been to scale with those from City. Now, Speed Champions is bigger than ever and with more cars too.

Since 2015, the number of full-scale cars (not including polybag builds, repeated models and non-car vehicles) has increased from eight to 12, demonstrating an increase in not only the number of sets each year but also the number of cars both six studs wide and eight studs wide in the theme annually.

Despite reaching a record number of cars in 2024 – not counting 2025, since the year is ongoing – the number of eight-wide vehicles from 2020 to 2024 is shockingly comparable to the number of six-wide cars from 2015 to 2020.

The six-wide vehicles are beating the eight-wide cars by exactly one model, showcasing that the theme is currently fairly balanced between the two eras. This will change when we can start counting 2025 and its 10 Formula 1 models once the year is through, but for now, the eras are even.

Another interesting data point to consider is the manufacturers that each era has covered. Many have been shared between them, and nine have debuted in LEGO Speed Champions' eight-wide era. That just leaves Bugatti and Mini in the six-wide era.

A whopping 17 manufacturers have been represented in five years of the eight-wide era (not counting 2025 just yet), compared to the 10 covered in the six-wide generation.

Other interesting statistics to note between the eras include the colours covered in their cars and the combined horsepower of the real vehicles the builds are based on. In both cases (even excluding the dragster build), the eight-wide era comes out on top.

Here’s how the community reacted at the time…

Community reactions to the design change in 2020 included many fans sharing their distaste for it, worrying that the designers would go back to six-wide cars and leave this odd point in their collections. Others were more positive regarding the shift to eight-wide cars, noting the potential this would grant the LEGO designers in the future.

"The change to eight studs is huge," commented StradlatersFirstName. "There will finally be enough room inside the cars to add some detail to the interior while allowing for enough room so that two minifigs can sit side by side. I, for one, am all in favor and hope that Speed Champions does not look back."

"On the one hand, I'm slightly annoyed that they will be a different size to the cars I already own, but the amount of detail makes up for it already, so as long as this is how it is from now on, then it's fine," shared Educational_Meringue.

Some members of the community focused specifically on the realism and accuracy an eight-wide uniform design would allow for, while some were still concerned about fitting the new style of cars into their wider collection.

"I like the fact that the driver is no longer in the center of the vehicle," stated RedWood671. "Looks good to me. Almost seems like 8 wide would have been the better choice from the start."

"While I agree that eight studs wide allows for more detail, I think the six-stud wide vehicles fit better into a modular scale city... Roadplates and whatnot," said htc_user.

Despite mixed initial reactions, most of the community would eventually come around to the change.

…and what people think of it now

More recent reactions to the shift in size are much more positive, though BMan_NASCAR specifically notes that we never see any builds aside from cars in the theme anymore.

"It seems like we never get any more little bonus things along with the car or sets with them," posted BMan_NASCAR. "I get why cause the piece count would likely get too high, and we’re mostly focused on the cars themselves. But it was nice to get some random pit walls, a wind tunnel, or even some customizing features when the six-stud cars were around."

"I'm good without the extras," disagreed Watery_Octopus. "Put the parts count into giving us better moulds, like the lower profile mud guards, the 6 long brackets, and wider freaking rear tires for F1 cars."

With time, much of the community came around on the change, with others still noting that the bigger cars cannot seamlessly fit into City and modular displays with road plates as six-wide cars can.

"I was initially not happy about the switch from six to eight studs," shared morecoffee_7. "None of the new cars matched my old collection, and they looked goofy when displayed together. After the 3rd or 4th 8 wide build, I was sold on the new design."

"Six-wide has the charm of being adaptations of real-life cars with the fun, stylized dimensions of City scale, making for great play sets that can easily cross themes," stated KEVLAR60442. "Eight-wide is much too big to be played with on City road plates and with City vehicles, and arguably, they're much too big to display or play alongside minifigures, too.

Keeping six-wide cars alive

While the change has been in place for many years now, there are some in the online community who are keeping six-wide cars alive, opting to take eight-wide models and take them down a peg while retaining their overall design and shape. The Aston Martin DB5 modification is especially interesting for how it adapts the printed grill element, which is far too wide for a six-stud creation.

It's a commendable effort, including from the likes of Bricky33 and Feel The Bricks, but LEGO Speed Champions is unlikely to go back to six-wide vehicles anytime soon at this point. With five years of the new era, the current style of vehicles is almost certainly here to stay.

What could era three of LEGO Speed Champions look like?

Looking closely at the transition between the first and second eras of LEGO Speed Champions, and given that we're at the same point we were when the theme changed from six-wide to eight-wide cars, we wonder what the third era of the theme might look like, or if the second era is here to stay permanently.

Rather than a shift in design again, since eight-wide cars seem to be the perfect scale for the theme without making the cars unrealistically big compared to minifigures, it might mean a change in attitudes for the theme. The 2025 range of 10 Formula 1 cars might be an ideal framework to use moving forward, building on this idea to create a new collection of cars in the theme every year.

The team would be able to expand on the likes of the movie cars to focus on specific motorsport, nostalgic vehicles and maybe even in-game partnerships such as Gran Turismo and Forza Horizon. A new era of LEGO Speed Champions doesn't just have to concern changes in the design, it may instead mean a drastic change to the way the theme currently operates.

This is only speculation on our part, and we'll be exploring this idea further later in our Speed Champions 10th-anniversary plans. Bookmark our LEGO Speed Champions 10th-anniversary page and check back frequently for new stories throughout March. The latest wave of LEGO Speed Champions Formula 1 sets is available now.

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