Let's be clear: Racers sets are not
Technic sets. Racers is a line of sets that began in 2001 and
continued forward from there. These sets, not surprisingly, have a
racing theme and tend to be play oriented sets targeted toward younger
builders. The sets tend to build with studded LEGO
®
System parts but some of the models, especially in the early years
(2002-2007), were made entirely of Technic parts. The very first
of these, the
8461 Williams F1 Racer, is nearly identical to the
8458
Silver Champion of 2 years before and therefore can be pretty safely
categorized as a Technic set even though it said Racers on the
box. The
8674 Ferrari F1 Racer is
similarly full featured, but the other models shown are much less
so. I chose the 8 Racers models shown here because I thought they
fit in well with the Technic theme and are made of Technic parts, but
they generally have much less functionality than a bespoke Technic
set. Some have nothing more than steering. If one were to
look through the entire Racers line one would find many other sets which
use partially or mostly Technic parts, but I chose these 8 as a
representative list of those that blur the line between Technic and
Racers.
Most of these sets make heavy use of stickers for their final look, but
unfortunately the quality of these stickers degrades heavily over time
leaving only a sticky mess. These sets all use a combination of
curved panels and flexible axles to achieve their streamlined
look. Many of these part exist in unusual colors in these sets and
are available nowhere else.
