Classics on TV - Mille Miglia 28/12
Discussion
a8hex said:
Sadly very little about the car or cars and far too much celeb. Why am I not surprised.
Felt sorry for the poor sod when it broke mind.
You did? You actually felt sorry for the sort of rich twunt that spends 3/4 million buying and overhauling a car for the MM then doesn't bother testing or running the engine in before starting the event?!?!Felt sorry for the poor sod when it broke mind.
Had they bothered to give the car a full shake down not only would the issue with the engine have shown up but it would also have been full run-in removing the necessity to limit engine revs to 3,500 (or 4,500 - they didn't seem too sure).
Perhaps a little more time preparing the car and a little less time getting excited about vacume-packing underware would have seen the car move a little further under it's own power...
Following the withdrawal of the car, the chef headed to the local book shops. He was suprised to find whilst skimming through one book that one of 3 cars entered in the original MM had also withdrawn with valve failure.
Having forked out £650,000 on a car - I thought he would have read up a little on the MM history of the 3 cars originally entered by Maserati before the event - if not before buying the car. It gave the impression that he could have been driving anything, the actual car was less than important than taking part in the event. Maybe that isn't wrong - or is just me?
And why the blonde, attractive female co-driver - he needed a map reader not another driver. I guess a Jenks look-alike would not have helped the ratings
She also didn't look that different from his girlfriend - absolutely asking for trouble...
Having forked out £650,000 on a car - I thought he would have read up a little on the MM history of the 3 cars originally entered by Maserati before the event - if not before buying the car. It gave the impression that he could have been driving anything, the actual car was less than important than taking part in the event. Maybe that isn't wrong - or is just me?
And why the blonde, attractive female co-driver - he needed a map reader not another driver. I guess a Jenks look-alike would not have helped the ratings
She also didn't look that different from his girlfriend - absolutely asking for trouble...I get the impression he needed something pretty exotic to get an entry, OK the Bubble Car wasn't, but what's the betting it was driven by somebody who was in the 'right crowd'.
It's easy to be critical of this sort of thing and call them rich twunts.. or what ever.. but in truth if I had his money, I would be doing this sort of thing too and he didn't come over as a stuck up prat, just a down to earth enthusiast who had plenty of brass.
We rarely seem to get any decent programmes about classic motor sport on the box these days, taken in that context I thought it was quite good.
It's easy to be critical of this sort of thing and call them rich twunts.. or what ever.. but in truth if I had his money, I would be doing this sort of thing too and he didn't come over as a stuck up prat, just a down to earth enthusiast who had plenty of brass.
We rarely seem to get any decent programmes about classic motor sport on the box these days, taken in that context I thought it was quite good.
//j17 said:
a8hex said:
Sadly very little about the car or cars and far too much celeb. Why am I not surprised.
Felt sorry for the poor sod when it broke mind.
You did? You actually felt sorry for the sort of rich twunt that spends 3/4 million buying and overhauling a car for the MM then doesn't bother testing or running the engine in before starting the event?!?!Felt sorry for the poor sod when it broke mind.
Had they bothered to give the car a full shake down not only would the issue with the engine have shown up but it would also have been full run-in removing the necessity to limit engine revs to 3,500 (or 4,500 - they didn't seem too sure).
Perhaps a little more time preparing the car and a little less time getting excited about vacume-packing underware would have seen the car move a little further under it's own power...
So I can kind of understand his really wanting to get going there.
Yes, he didn't seem to have done that much research about the car.
I'd have been on a plane down to Italy to see it before I bought it. Once I'd had the engineers report. Actually when I looked at buying an Aston, I went to see it before getting Rikki Cann to go and give me his verdict (Everyone I chatted to about Astons said Rikki was the man to do the inspection). There must have been more he could have found out out them before starting.
I also find it difficult to believe that the price he paid for the car was less than his house, unless he's had it for sometime. I just got the impression much of the program was just stages to "make good TV"
I found the whole tone of the show a bit strange. They spent ages saying what an enthusiast he was, classics in his blood etc, but then there were several comments through the show about how he wanted to make money on the car, and how much being in the mille miglia would increase the value of the car.
I have to admit those comments kind of went against the grain.
I have to admit those comments kind of went against the grain.
//j17 said:
a8hex said:
Sadly very little about the car or cars and far too much celeb. Why am I not surprised.
Felt sorry for the poor sod when it broke mind.
You did? You actually felt sorry for the sort of rich twunt that spends 3/4 million buying and overhauling a car for the MM then doesn't bother testing or running the engine in before starting the event?!?!Felt sorry for the poor sod when it broke mind.
Had they bothered to give the car a full shake down not only would the issue with the engine have shown up but it would also have been full run-in removing the necessity to limit engine revs to 3,500 (or 4,500 - they didn't seem too sure).
Perhaps a little more time preparing the car and a little less time getting excited about vacume-packing underware would have seen the car move a little further under it's own power...
velocemitch said:
It's easy to be critical of this sort of thing and call them rich twunts.. or what ever.. but in truth if I had his money, I would be doing this sort of thing too and he didn't come over as a stuck up prat, just a down to earth enthusiast who had plenty of brass.
Oh, I would definitely spend all my money on cars, classic cars, motorsport, classic rallies etc. What I think the difference with most of us and James Martin is that we care more about the cars rather than the return we might get. Also, having a show to highlight just how much money one has was a tad vulgar. He didn't come across as stuck up just more a complete arse.
A little more time running the car in and getting used to it so you can identify your own problems would have been extremely useful. Classic car ownership, as a lot of us know, is not perfect things go wrong all the time and if you are going to use them you cant expect them to be an investment. They will suck up all your money but they are worth it, thats why we still have 'em.
I don't know if it helps, but take a look at:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... real italian job
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... real italian job
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