First off, yes, I WildWill the Budget Collector have succumbed to that demon that is Formula One.
It all started with the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, the inaugural running. I managed to catch a good portion of the race and just fell in love right then and there.
Max won that race, and I liked his style, so he became my favorite guy. Plus I just love the Red Bull Racing teams. They rock in Sailing too. My other favorite high end niche sport love.
I watched at least part of, if not all of every race last season, which was a damn fine season of racing. Max Verstappen won his 4th straight Driver's Championship, and McLaren won the Constructor's for the first time in a long time. I enjoyed each and every race, and I followed along in between the action.
And of course, I bought some merch.
Let's get the cat out of the bag first, racing merchandise is not cheap and it's not all that easy to find at retail. Fortunately we do have the internet though. Still clothing and replica cars, not inexpensive. Although, if you know where to look....
For example, Bburago is the main die-cast licensor for F1, and they make a huge line of fine replicas in many different scales. One of the more popular scale lines is 1:43, which is the old British O Train Scale. They have a number of different releases throughout the year from the standard livery to special one-offs. Some have additional accessories or figurines and cases. They tend to start at about $15 for a no frills release and can go to the hundreds for limited editions.
Then there's a line you can get at Target for $6.99.
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| Four Lego Speed Champions and a Not-lego |
The Lego company had dabbled a bit with F1 licensing in years past, and had provided a couple of mini-figure scale Speed Champions which I managed to snag and build. For 2025 though Lego and F1 went all out and are doing a massive push, which includes all 10 teams in Speed Champions and a couple of even larger builds, not to mention a bunch of kick-ass kid themed city sets. There will also be mini-racer blind bags out later this year to collect. It's a lot.
I already have two of the 10 Speed Champions but haven't built them yet. Waiting for closer to Race time. I will then retire the bigger Not-lego RB19 in favor of the new Lego RB20 on my starting grid. Which also I will have a rudimentary starting grid soon because I ordered some pieces from Lego to make one.
Oh yeah, if you want to join me in doing a Fantasy Race league for free - hit the link
https://fantasy.formula1.com/en/leagues/join/C2FR0GWEP10
