Lego car hits the road in Melbourne

An Australian entrepreneur and a Romanian student have completed their ambitious project to create a car from 500,000 Lego pieces.

The Super Awesome Micro Project, from Steve Sammartino and Raul Oaido, launched in February 2012 to fund and build a car made almost entirely out of the brightly-coloured bricks.

Forty Australians stepped forward to finance the project, pledging between AUS $500 and $1000 each to make the dream come true.

“I wanted to do something interesting that shows there are a myriad of possible innovations for cars. We wanted to be an example to open people’s minds,” Sammartino told Australian media.

“It’s something the car industry needs.”

The life-sized two-seater has a top speed of 30 km per hour (20 mph) and is powered by four orbital engines with 256 pistons – all made of Lego – that run on compressed air.

The yellow and black car, designed like a hotrod, took 20 months to complete.

Apart from structural gear such as the wheels, tires, gauges and load-bearing components, only Lego bricks were used.