Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

For those who missed it the first time it's on BBC2 NOW!

Found this a bit disapointing. He picked the wrong car! The original failed on valves which suggests a design fault. If I was spending that much on a race car I'd do my own homework & not trust a dealer. Think he was stiched up. The low tech MG finished
Perhaps a bit more running in & a test on a rolling road to make sure the mixture was right would have helped. Sad really Sounded lovely.

+1

what kind of numpty spends half a million quid on a car to do an event like the mille miglia and doesnt even run it in/set it up ?

oh yeh .. a fat chef with too much money.

He was stiched up by that dealer. Its a shame that his dream ended like that

Watched it with my daughter who commented "he must have a really small d*ck". She isn't impressed by men who make condescending remarks to every woman they talk to.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer chap

And what about the 330k engine rebuild ,

I watched it too. There was a bit much of 'look how much money I've got' for my liking, and what was the rubbish about his model girlfriend being 'commissioned' to take photographs! Most of the blokes I know who watched it seem to agree that the co-driver was actually a better looking and nicer girl. As for a small tadger, he couldn't possibly tell you as he's too fat to have seen it recently.

Mille Miglia story - An old man in my village has a very large wooden garage, with an upstairs, complete with hoist, for keeping stuff in. Every day I ran past, and a couple of days the doors were open and I saw this funny red sports car. One day I spoke to him, he was Italian and 90 years old. He had been restoring his Lancia Appia Zagato, I think a 1961 model, for 26 years. He took me out the back where he showed me his Alfa Romeo Lancia Junior (a runner in mustard yellow), Lancia Delta HF Intergrale (also a runner), and his stripped down Lancia Flavia. "I'm going to restore this one next" he said. "But you're 90 years old and it's took you 26 years to do the Appia" I commented. In the end I helped him (along with his son) get the engine out of the Appia and rebuild it, and do other jobs until the car was ready. When it was finished it was put on a trailer and taken to Italy where the Lancia club drove the Mille Miglia circuit. When he came back he died - he had achieved his ambition. He got a picture and a mention in the local paper. I spoke to his son on Saturday, and I think the whole trip cost less than the entrance fee (£8000) for the real Mille Miglia. All the cars are still at the house where his widow still lives, along with his son's latest acquisition - a Mk1 Lotus Cortina, white with green stripe. There's also a couple of Alfa Romeo 164s there too.

His girlfriend is (was) Sally Kettle,who does do a bit of photography. http://www.sallykettlephotography.com/

I agree about the co-driver she is http://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/2008/0 ... s-win.html & seems to be doing quite well in the Porsche Cup. His girlfriend didn't seem overly impressed when his co-driver was introduced.

too mch about the condasending arogant git rather than the event, the cars and the real enthusiasts! Shame.

I watched with great interest, and like many above was disappointed in the overall content.

Someone commented in ma house, " aw you have to feel sorry for him "..... pondering for a moment I replied, " eh, no, not really ".

He was a numpty, eyes wide shut. The bookstore had as a big a glass window as the dealership that sold him the expensive pup, saw him coming a mile off. He spent more on books than I paid for my 944, jeez o ! And bitter sweet that it was he found out his car had previous valve problems in MM, when he read a bit about it in that bookshop , good time to start his reasearch.

I did love his girlfriends reaction when she was being introdcued to the co-driver, as she looked around for the guy.... only to realise it was the wee woman right in front of her, haha.

I look forward to his adventure at next years event, I bet he wished he had taken his bubble car, I'm sure I saw one of those finish.

I totally agree - the two girls meeting was probably the most entertaining bit.....

I agree with all of you. I would not have liked him to finish just because the threw a load of dosh at the project. Why was he looking for valves for his Italian car in the UK to fly over, when he was in Italy? He already had a gull wing Merc in his garage, why didn't he use that and save £750,000 +.

Or was he hoping to make a fast buck on the car because finishing gave it some provenance.

Chris

The rules for the MM are that the entered car must have been a competitor before. That is NOT similar or the same make & model but the same car. Hence the MGA was actually a Le Mans version so as rare as rocking horse poo as well.
A lot of specialist engineering in classics is in the UK so more likely to get one off valves off the shelf here than in Italy which doesn't have a particular classic heritage at that level.

[/quote]
The rules for the MM are that the entered car must have been a competitor before. That is NOT similar or the same make & model but the same car. quote]


Really ? I missed that, thought it just had to pre '57 cars, the last year it was run as a true race...? Sounds like some interweb surfing is required for me....
guess that explains why he didn't take the bubble car, but not why I saw one on the docu, who would enter one of those when it was a race ? Pure mad mental'ness.

Nice guy that James Martin, all is forgiven

i agree with the above posts re the meeting of the girlfriends, but the car porn was incredible, loved the cars, the atmosphere must have been brilliant, all the competitors were pretty wealthy, james's choice of car was surprising considering the amount of research he had done by the supposedly professional people working for him, i will admit to liking his saturday morning program, but this race showed him as a bit of a spoiled child