A YouTuber Is 3D Printing a Full-Size 2026 F1 Car From PETG

The Ambition

Building a replica Formula 1 car is already a borderline unhinged ambition. Building one from 3D-printed PETG, stuffing a Mercedes M120 V12 into it, and then taking it drifting is something else entirely. That is exactly what Australian YouTuber Mike Lake is doing, and his latest video shows the project graduating from ambitious render to something that genuinely looks like an F1 car.

We are 3D printing an entire 2026 Formula 1 car powered by a Mercedes V12 engine, Lake said at the top of the video. He is not underselling it. His previous benchmark for difficulty was a 3D-printed Porsche build. This makes that look like a weekend project.

The Build

The main body shell, including the floor, side pods, and engine covers, could not fit on any single printer bed. Lake's team at Two Step Garage sliced the geometry into 100 separate pieces, each averaging around 10 hours of print time on Bambu Lab H2S machines running PETG filament. The math on that alone is punishing. The 3D model files came from Melbourne-based mechanical engineer Fatlip Collective, and FreeCAD was used to keep all 100 numbered components organized during assembly.

Assembly itself took two full days, with Lake plastic-welding each piece and reinforcing every seam with Loctite 406. The front wing alone had previously consumed around 175 hours of print time and roughly nine kilograms of plastic, about $158 USD in raw material. At one point, Lake spent three hours hunting for a missing piece before realizing it was already installed. The part was number five. It was right there.

The Engine

The chassis underneath all of this printed bodywork was designed and fabricated with help from Cage Kits Australia, and it is built to accommodate the M120. That is the naturally aspirated V12 that powered early Pagani Zondas and has no business being inside anything shaped like a contemporary open-wheel car. Lake has confirmed the engine passed a compression test and is ready to run.

There is no off-the-shelf parts and no instruction manual for this thing. We are literally starting from scratch, he said. That makes sense. Fitting a V12 with a transaxle gearbox into a 2026 F1 silhouette requires custom everything.

The Exhaust and Intake

The exhaust is perhaps the most interesting detail. Lake is building a 12-into-1 collector to route the V12's output through the side pod exit. That is where our 12-to-1 exhaust from our Mercedes V12 engine is going to exit, he confirmed, with apparently about five inches of clearance in that area to work with.

The intake side is equally creative. The air scoop above the driver's head will function as an actual working intake, feeding the V12's individual throttle bodies. His stated goal is a car with a 2026 F1 exterior and the exhaust note of a 1990s racing machine.

Logistics and Next Steps

The front wing is designed to detach for trailer transport using a dowel-and-bolt system, which solves a real logistics problem given the sheer length of the car. Weight distribution is already a concern: the V12 and transaxle sit at the rear, leaving the nose relatively light. Removing the front wing during transit helps shift the balance forward on the trailer.

Over 500 hours of print time have gone into the project so far. The gearbox pickup is reportedly happening within the next week, which means the drivetrain assembly phase is close. Whether a 3D-printed body can survive a track day with a V12 behind the driver's head is a question that will eventually answer itself. Lake seems confident: I am massively confident that we can have this thing looking exactly like the 2026 Formula 1 car. Whether it survives drifting is a separate question entirely.

STL files for the build are available through Two Step Garage if anyone is inspired enough, or unhinged enough, to attempt their own version.