60113 Rally Car review

There are a few sets that seem to stick in my head from yesteryear. 6634 Rally Car is one of them along with the grandparent of them all, 673 Rally Car. Both these sets had sponsorship by Shell which was rather cool. I won’t go into that LEGO story as it has been well documented here on BF in the past.

As part of the 2016 great vehicles, 60113 Rally Car sees the third incarnation of this theme. With all the predecessors, they were all based on the tried and tested 4-stud wide chassis/plate, but as ever – a bit like the BMW Mini – things today have just gotten a bit bigger as per standard is the 6-stud configuration.

The smart looking 60053 Touring Car seems to serve the basis of this rally version, so I believed 60113 to complement the racing series in the midst of the thrust of the Speed Champion models.

Set Description

Race to the finish line!

Hop in the LEGO® City Rally Car and buckle up! Get ready, the race is about to start. Hit the gas and go go go to cross the finish line first! Race to win in LEGO City!

• Includes a race car driver minifigure.
• Features a Rally car with adjustable spoiler on the rear.
• Grab the Race Car and go racing with your friends.
• Includes a checkered flag element.
• Rally Car measures over 1” (4cm) high, 4” (12cm) long and 1” (5cm) wide.

The Review

I quite like this little car. It is a relatively fun thing to build with nothing taxing to challenge the mind and it can be made in under 10 minutes. Therefore for a quick fix for the little people, this works well as a good filler. The colour scheme goes well – call it a hornet if you will with livery reminiscent of Ken Block’s ‘Monster Energy’ livery which seems appropriate in this day and age – something that LEGO has got right as ‘energy’ and ‘energy drinks’ are key sponsors within motorsport these days.

There are some nice touches as well. Firstly white wheels, which all rally cars seem to have these days. Tick. Secondly the 2×1 printed slope tile which has the rev counter and speedo. A great bit of detail here which could have easily been overlooked, but thankfully LEGO has included it.

Thirdly we have printed 1×1 round flat tiles with ‘Light’ making the front aux light covers. This is a unique tile and I believe is only suited for such a role. Within MOC’ing powers, I am sure that if you want to have the front aux’s on they can be easily swapped for transparent 1×1 yellow tiles. I love the use of the 1×1 cylinder to get that prominent exhaust look at the back.

The minifigure chap has a printed torso depicting his racing suit. Whilst functional, I would have liked to have see some possible tampo printing on the sleeves as well with say ‘Octan’ as the sponsor? Methinks that this would have gone down well and given a very good feel for authenticity.

But the set is not without its flaws. I am going to go into nerd mode here, but I do think it is necessary. Firstly, what on earth is going on with the rear spoiler? It just looks utterly daft and irrelevant with the size of it. The car is touted as a rally car, but this gives me more the impression that this is a kind of rally cross car. Before you all start moaning, there is a distinct difference between rally and rally cross……..so I am not sure what this one is trying to be with that great big thing at the rear.

Also, are the four 1×1 transparent yellow tiles necessary on the bottom lip of the car? I don’t think so. Turning the 1×1 yellow slope around and adding four more creates a nice little front splitter which goes well. Alternatively, a 1×4 flat tile bar would have made a crisper front end look.

I was not that happy with the overall finished look of the model, so some pitstop MOC’ing was in order to improve the look and feel of the car. By getting rid of the silly spoiler at the rear and simply replacing it with a 1×6 flat black tile, you get a far more polished and smooth silhouette and body line – it just looks far better. Also, adding two 1×1 round tiles to the front aux light bar lets it stand proud at the front of the car and gives a proper racey, aggressive feel about it. For me the original is too inset to the front end.

As I mentioned at the start of the review, I like this set. I like it even more with some selective MOC’ing which I reckon improves the general build that LEGO provides as a platform. Wee people will love it as did my little one when he clapped eyes on it.

At 7.7p per piece, this is great VFM as well. Just make sure you have your parts bin on hand to ensure that you take it to the next level.