[Closed] The Real Italian Job: James Martin's Mille Miglia

Not sure what you're on about, but you've made me want to know more.

please explain??

yeah, what happened?

He really is a prat.

I think there was a rerun of the prog that went out about 2 years ago where James Martin spent a fortune on a classic car (he's loaded), raced it at the Mille Miglia, broke the car and cried.

If this is a repeat of the program I saw a few years ago, James Martin spends about £750,000 on a vintage racer (an Alfa, I seem to remember?) to enter the Mille Miglia, then cries on the side of the road after the engine fails after half a day or something. I can't remember if any cyclists overtook him at that point.

The 1948 Maserati has left a 800-thousand-pound hole in the Martin finances - a lot of omelettes.

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00g82ff/The_Real_Italian_Job_James_Martins_Mille_Miglia/#recommendSource=tv_episode_page ]James Martin's Mille Miglia[/url]

[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/sep/15/james-martin-cyclists ]Celebrity chef stirs up hate campaign from cycling community[/url]

the car failed because he refused to listen to experts about not revving the engine past a certain point for the first few hundred miles. he proceeded to drive like a total ****.

is all his money from cooking?

Watched it the first time round and came away thinking he wasn't a very nice guy 😕

Seem to remember the engine hadn't been fully/or not properly rebuilt, but a maybe wrong.

The gist again from memory seemed to be that the car would be worth more after the programme which he made a number of references to, which kind of blew up in his face.

It was a Maserati A6GCS, he had an engine re build just before the race, then at the start line he caned it like a 17 year old boy racer.

Then was surprised when a piston failed a hundred or so miles up the road !!

Prat of the first order

He should of used an Aston Martin.

Engine only had something like 200 miles on it, from a fresh rebuild?

I would drive it with care, not boot it about the place!

I remember watching it the first time and thinking what should have been a very interesting program was deeply uninteresting, I guess James Martin is a better cook than TV presenter.

he's not a particularly good cook tbh. I think it's safe to say he pushes the buttons of housewives of a certain age...

He came over as the sort of person I'd never like to meet. His analogy of cars and women...what a plank.

is all his money from cooking?

iirc he married into money, then she divorced him.

Saw this first time around - nasty piece of work.

Very patronising to his female co-driver, who was actually far more talented (and likeable) than him

I thought he made his wealth from his food empire - multiple successful restaurants, TV shows, books, etc?

Didn't watch it this time, but saw it the first time. That was the worst £800K car I'd ever seen, it looked like some sort of bad kit car.

Martin is a complete idiot, at last years Goodwood Festival of Speed competitors dinner, he thought he could park his car right outside Goodwood house as he's such a celebrity and the car park everyone else was using (ex Formula 1 champions, Le Mans winners etc.) wasn't good enough for him. The security guy on the door quickly told him where to go. I'm sure most of the people there didn't know who he was anyway.

What sort of person does this though?

But in a review of the Tesla electric car this Sunday, he went further, gleefully describing how he had utilised the speedy and silent approach of his test vehicle to sneak up on a pack of weekend cyclists, honk his horn and drive them off the road. "The look of sheer terror as they tottered into the hedge was the best thing I've ever seen in my rear-view mirror," he wrote.

I know it was a while back and I think he apologised, eventually, but it was sweet to see him blubber like a child.

I don't remember him actually apologising - wasn't it his agent who kind of said something like "Harrriuufffgrgrgsorryflflflblblblbl!"

For £800k I'd expect the engine rebuilt in a laboratory with valves lapped on the thighs of virgins!

I love the way he didn't buy extra pistons - 'cos they cost 3K each (or something), and he didn't have 18k to spare.

I there were only a handful of parts he did not buy spares for - and sods law - thats the part which broke!

Thought he hadn't replaced something! You'd do a total 'belt and braces' on something like that wouldn't you 🙄

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