On BBC2 21:15 Sunday 28th December 2008

BBC - BBC Two Programmes - The Real Italian Job: James Martin's Mille Miglia

Might be of interest to those planning on doing the Briskoda 2009 Road Trip which is going to follow a similar route or so I believe

I watched this after top gear and thought it was pretty good, how gutted was he though!

Roll on September

He should have used a Skoda instead of that crummy (:drool:) Mazza...

He is a bit of a muppet tbh.

Anyone with any sense would have looked through the history of the race for any info on the type of car he was entering, and if they retired why?

It was only after his broke that he discovered that all of the previous similar Masers had retired with valve problems.....

gutted for him tbh.

Great program enjoyed it

He is a bit of a muppet tbh.

Anyone with any sense would have looked through the history of the race for any info on the type of car he was entering, and if they retired why?

It was only after his broke that he discovered that all of the previous similar Masers had retired with valve problems.....

I think his real mistake was spending £300K on an engine rebuild and then trying to fully run it in on the event (only done 200 miles before?).

I must admit I used to quite like watching this bloke, but during this program I went right off him. Cor blimey he is very lardy too!

He said the only time he had cried before was when his grandmother died, but he seemed to be on the verge of crying in just about every shot!

I must say I think I'd have done a bit more research before blowing £750K or so on a car for this sort of event.

Just wished they'd shown the bit when he got back to the UK and met up with his mechanic mate - that would have been an interesting conversation

Stunning wife though.

Looked like it could be a great show - and if taken in the right spirit - i think it would have been a good show! But - Mr Martin came across as very petulant and moody - almost downright arrogant in fact. As the comment above - i normal enjoy his cooking shows etc - but by the end of this show..... i've gone off him completely.

Better luck next time....

What a lot of money for so few miles!:eek:

I felt his pain having had classics before, his misfortune is why I never bought an old Italian car. My old style Panda was moody enough at times....

Just watched it on Sky+

Some stunning cars and roads

Also noticed that Adrian Flux got some publicity with their logo plastered all over that pink Porsche

Edited 30 December, 200817 yr by andy2407

I enjoyed the programme, but it annoyed me too.

For starters, the Mille Miglia is hardly a race. Its a reliability time trial. There were plenty of more "ordinary" cars there. I saw an Isetta (he already owns one of these!!), a TR3, plenty of Porsche 356 type stuff, so why choose a fragile Maseratti? I got the impression he couldn't really afford it and was hoping he could sell his Miglia finishing Maseratti for a tidy profit afterwards. As for doing such an event on a brand new engine, what a moron.

As for his mechanic, I was wincing everytime he started the engine again... it was clearly some internal engine damage, so why keep on starting the thing up. It was painful to watch.

And James making sure his copilot knew exactly what her gift had cost him, what a *****.

Ramblings aside though, some stunning machinery and an interesting programme.

As for his mechanic, I was wincing everytime he started the engine again... it was clearly some internal engine damage, so why keep on starting the thing up. It was painful to watch.

At least he didn't get his crisp and clean white shirt dirty!!