Lego Stop-Motion Race Recreations by Zach Lang

Dive into the captivating world of stop-motion Lego race recreations, as created by Zach Lang, the mastermind behind The Moving Bricks YouTube channel. After every grand prix weekend, Lang meticulously replicates the racing action using tracks and cars built from Lego.

The Painstaking Process of Creating a Stop-Motion Film

It’s a labor-intensive process that requires hours of construction, staging, photographing, and editing. “Patience is key in stop motion,” Lang explains to Motorsport.com. “Because it takes absolutely forever.

In the days leading up to a race, Lang recreates the racetrack using Lego at home. He then settles down to watch the race, paying close attention to any exciting action or incidents that he thinks will make the final video. Once the race is over, he begins filming his video, which can take hours and often extends into the night.

Designing and Building Custom Lego Tracks and Cars

Each film uses a bespoke Lego track layout that Lang has designed and built himself to closely mirror the real venues F1 races at. The cars he uses are his own design, as Lang started making his films long before Lego launched its own Speed Champions sets.

This has its advantages, as because the cars are bespoke, he can tweak and change them every race if a team comes armed with a one-off livery, new sponsor, or other changes that he wants to reflect in his films.

The Challenges of Stop-Motion Animation

Once the cars and tracks are prepared, Lang takes “2,000 to 5,000” individual stills for his nine-minute movies. Between each frame, he must move the cars a tiny amount so that when the still photographs are played back in quick succession, it creates motion on screen.

Crashes and contact between two cars are particularly time-consuming, as Lang needs to account for things like tyre smoke and debris that flies across the track when cars collide. He uses cotton and small Lego pieces to create the smoke and debris effects.

The Rewards of Stop-Motion Animation

Despite the extra time and effort that comes with recreating an action-packed grand prix, Lang doesn’t think this takes away from his enjoyment of an F1 weekend. “Everyone loves to watch an action-packed race,” Lang says. “But, I kind of enjoy filming that too.

Whether it’s an action-packed grand prix or a processional race, Lang’s films inject an element of charm into the F1 weekend. His unique approach to marking a race weekend earns him thousands of views on each film, and his work is also getting noticed by Lego and several F1 insiders.

Lego repeatedly comments on his posts across YouTube and social media, and he says an F1 insider cornered him at the Las Vegas Grand Prix to compliment his work. “There is a lot of people in the industry that respect it,” he adds. “There’s someone at one team that invited me to a couple of races and I’ve been able to give them a car for the team they work on.

Just five years after Lang made his first stop-motion movie and four since he committed to these faithful recreations of every grand prix weekend, Lang’s love of F1 has only grown. Now, he aspires to study engineering with an eye on an eventual career in motorsport. Not bad for a few hours a week playing with Lego, right?