The LEGO Racers theme which was introduced in 2001 was the successor of LEGO Race. Since the theme started, most race cars in LEGO System and TECHNIC universe have been released under the LEGO Racers theme. Racers was discontinued in 2012 and it was succeeded by Speed Champions, introduced in 2015.
2004 LEGO Sets
2004 was a shakeup year at LEGO, coming off of 2003 with record losses. Some significant events include the release of the QUATRO System for very young children, and most notably the replacement of many long-standing LEGO colors including gray, dark gray, brown and violet and the introduction of some new colors like light nougat which ultimately became the skin tone for many minifigures. In 2004, The LEGO Group created a partnership with Ferrari and a number of LEGO Ferrari sets were released that year based on Ferrari’s Formula 1 racing cars. New themes released in 2004 included Maersk, Knight's Kingdom II and Ferrari under the Racers theme. LEGO discontinued the Adventurers Orient Expedition, the original Spider-Man theme, LEGO World City and Gravity Games.