This was the consolation prize in a contest recently(I took 2nd place), and I thought it was really cool. You get a nice, basic little racing car with a steering wheel, a seat for one mini fig(mini fig not included), four little wheels, and a nice looking exterior. This car has great playability, and it was probably really inexpensive when it was being sold. I'd recommend it to all Lego fans because it's just plain cool.

What kid doesn't like race cars? I know I did, me and my brother would race sets like this one around our bedroom for hours when I was younger. The beauty of Lego race cars that competitive toy brands don't have is that you can be extremely rough on the things and break them and smash them into each other and then just rebuild them good as new, something that is a little less than rewarding to do with, say, hot wheels or matchbox cars. I had an absolute ton of Lego town racing sets as a kid growing up in the 90's and this was one of the ones that I kept sealed away from the others in a baggie (a habit that I am extremely glad I did as often as I did now, nearly 20 years down the line... Makes it far easier to rebuild and review them).

The Model: This set has one big thing going for it: It looks exactly like a formula one race car, if a little small. The size difference between this car and the one that was included with power pitstop is noticeable to an adult but as a kid I didn't care one bit. This looks like a faithful, if slightly snub-nosed, race car and that's all that a kid would care about. Great example of a good looking impulse set that a kid with an imagination can have a lot of fun with... If said kid has a bunch of other Lego sets laying around.

I try to review sets on their own merits, it seems fairer to me that way. This set has one obvious thing going against it, which is that it doesn't come with a minifigure whatsoever. Assuming that you're a kid with a bunch of Lego that probably isn't a big deal, you'll have minifigures coming out of your ears anyways. However, not all kids do, and I don't think it's a good idea when designing a set to assume a kid already has a bunch of other sets/parts laying around, so the only real downside/point deduction I can give this thing is that it doesn't come with any people to actually sit in and drive the thing.

Building Experience: It's a fine build, actually. Well re-enforced, the smokestacks on the back look attractive, and it's well proportioned. Nothing super special because of how tiny the set is but for a tiny impulse set it's fine. No complaints nor real compliments standing out here.

Parts: This is a great assortment of parts. The printed front tile, the small cool looking smooth racing-style wheels, the hinge brick (can never have too many) and the chassis you can use for other MOC's are all welcome assortments. Only reason I'm not giving it a five is because, again, it needs more parts. Four more to be exact, to make a driver for the thing.

Playability: Pretty much nonexistant out of the box. Easily enough remedied with parts from your Lego stash, but why make someone do that? Lego could've easily just thrown a minifigure in with the thing and solved it themselves. You can't really play with it, as it has no driver, but displayability is fine. It looks good and attractive on a display with other cars, such as Power Pitstop's race car or the Speedway Transport ones.

Value For Money: It's not super cheap anymore, usually selling for three to ten dollars on bricklink, more (as always) on fleabay, and usually (but not always) from overseas/The Netherlands. It's worth four to five dollars no problem, because it really does look great. Not worth a ton more than that. If you need to bolster your Lego Race track's competitor numbers, look no further than this. Recommended.

I got this car at a gas station when I was little. It is a nice car, definitetly fun to build and have in your Lego City (I have one, and it is a car I like to use.) The parts were okay, the playability was fine, and the value for money was good. So why the hesitation? I'll explain. My brother had gotten a space set at that gas station too, and being little, the first thing I noticed in my car was the lack of the minifig! I can't remember if I wasn't happy or not about this, but I do wish it did include a minifigure...

(As such, I was inspired to make a bricklist of all the annoying Lego sets that don't include minifigures but should have)

Lego has made so many race cars over the years, it has to be up there as one of the "most built" things by Lego along with police cars and fire trucks. Kids like things that go fast, they like cops and robbers, fire engines, building things, taking things apart.

Honestly, I was more a train kid but I had a collection of Matchbox cars that found themselves sharing the roadways with my Lego cars. But Lego always had a one up on my collection of Matchbox cars because I could modify them to have rockets, guns, wings, a house on the back and I didn't worry about scratching it at all since Lego seems to be indestructible (except for those lime green joints in my old Bionicle sets)

I picked up this little set in a bulk listing of other sets on eBay and since it's all together, with instructions, I figured I might as well review this one.

Building Experience

Incredibly simple, with no wobbly or wonky parts throughout. It's a bottom to top build with a central chassis piece but has enough brick based building to have a good introduction to Lego if this was your first little set. It holds itself together well, and once finished, you have a decently proportioned little race car. Not much to say here, it's so small that's it hard to comment on the build process.

I will say that in terms of Formula 1 racing cars of the era, this looks really good. Lego had got the general shaping and structure of Formula 1 racing cars down by then, having spent the late part of the 1980s really getting the parts and form in line with what you'd expect a car to look like. This means that by 1997, you could get 25 parts together and make a nice F1 car. Now granted, it's a bit small and when you put a minifigure inside it, it kind of looks like a large go-kart. Compared to other F1 cars like 6546 Slick Racer, it certainly shows its size but standing alone, it looks good.

For a little impulse purchase it looks MUCH better as a race car than some later 2000s impulse purchase cars like the 6618 Blue Racer.

Parts

You've got a nice printed tile with a "1" on it, some nice yellow walled go-kart smooth tyres, some slopes and tiles, all in black and yellow with two grey cones to represent engines. It's a small assortment of parts but they're all useful and can be used in your MOCs or own cars.

I'm not ranking this higher as I think it needed a minifigure, which I'll explain in the playability part below. The parts are common, easy to find and you could probably make this from some spart parts.

Playability

A car without a driver doesn't have a lot of story possibilities. Of course, some kids will just imagine a driver in there without the need for a minifigure but I think Lego really should have included one to drive this thing around. It didn't need to be a full on Octan brand racing driver, it should have just been a default smiling minifigure with a hat. Speaking as someone who might have got a little set like this one, I didn't have a big collection of minifigures to go around so trying to muster up a driver to get in the seat might have been a bit hard.

I think Lego could have afforded to drop in a little driver that would have helped open up great story possibilities and if this is your first little set, I feel having an introduction to what a minifigure is is important.

It's very displayable on a desk at work or on a shelf, or even thrown into a city layout/racetrack. It's a bit small to be included with the racecars that Lego was making at the time like the 6546 Slick Racer or the ones included in 6337 Fast Track Finish - it actually has more in common with the older racers you might have found in the late 1980s cars like in 6381 Motor Speedway.

Value for Money

I got this as part of a bulk listing online, and it came with the instructions and all the pieces intact. It's on Bricklink for about $3 to $10 Australian dollars, usually from the Netherlands so be prepared to pay some shipping. It turns up a bit on Ebay so maybe check there. That being said, you could just buy the parts and build this for way less.

I'd recommend it if you need a few F1 racers to fill up a desk display or a little diorama, but you don't really need this. If you're looking for something more 'minifig scale', go with the 6546 Slick Racer.

I remember briefly when Tesco sold these for free in round metal biscuit tins. I may still have the instructions and the parts to build this which is surprising considering it's over 10 years old. Anyway, quite a nice set for what it's worth, shame about the no minifig.