Did anyone watch "The Real Italian Job"

[kev131]

This was on the telly Sunday night after Top Gear.

It was a bit of reality TV following some celebrity chef who sight unseen bought a 1948 Maserati for ?650k that needed an engine rebuild to ultimately partake in the Mille Miglia.

It is getting a lot of bad press on various forums mainly about the guy's behaviour on camera but aside from that I really enjoyed watching the programme and I couldn't help making small connections with our own upcoming Italian trip as we drive those stunning mountain passes in the company of similar minded Italian car enthusiasts.

Did anyone see it and what did you think..?

[Thotos]

I saw it and very much enjoyed it. A few things seemed 'strange' to me though. They said the car needed an engine rebuild but it sounded fine when driven before the rebuild. They even commented on how well it was going and how fast it was. Then having decided to rebuild what was seemingly a good engine (at an astronomical cost as all parts had to be made) they take the car untested on a gruelling 1000 mile race. No doubt the engine gave up after 120 miles of hard driving. Haven't they heard of running in a new engine? And let's be honest, if you really must take part in the Millie Miglia, you can do so with a whole range of affordable cars made between 1928 and 1957 so why use a 1948 Maserati A6GCS 'Monofaro', one of only 15 made, which cost an amount they kept saying he couldn't afford?  There was a lot of over-dramatisation for the sake of the TV audience I thought but the show, the cars, the Italian scenery and all the eccentric rich people taking part made very enjoyable viewing. 

[Gremlino]

Yes Kev/Theo,

I tuned in expecting to see something about cookery and the occasional reference to classic cars.

It was a pleasant surprise to see the prog was all about classic cars and the Mille Miglia with hardly a reference to cooking ?

Ok, so now after watching it I'm aware that James Martin is a customer of
Harry Enfields 'I Saw You Coming' shop, as in he has zero street savvy

He also doesn't listen to the advice given to him by his engine builder about running in!

I would say it sounded a bit heavier than valves....more 'endy' ?

Oh well the Nouveau Riche will have their fun and learn the hard way....just a shame it had to be with a lovely Maserati that demanded more care and attention than it recieved.

I would have liked to have seen more of the other cars competing and their crews, I know Colin Pool (co-driver in the Alfa) and he is a real 'character' in and out of a car, just mix Keith Floyd, Leslie Philips & Jacky Ickx and you get Colin....enough said ?

Lets hope mr Martin gets his act together for the 2009 MM and makes a better attempt....(he should've bought an old M.G. or Riley). ?

[Thotos]

I would say it sounded a bit heavier than valves....more 'endy' ?

Yes, I thought so too.

[simon131]

I watched it too and would also say that I fail to see why he had to purchase such an expensive car, especially as he had already suggested that the only cars that he could find after doing research were already well known to the market and hadn't sold.

I'd agree with Gremlino 100% - the seller and engine rebuilder saw James Martin coming! I'd also have to agree that the engine sounded far more serious than just a valve to me too A fool and his money are easily parted, and that was certainly true of James Martin.

The other thing that I thought strange was that he didn't have a clue about how 'his' car worked, other than knowing where the petrol went!

I was also surprised that he didn't in any way attempt to drive any reliability into the car before canning it in front of an enthusiastic Italian crowd.

At the end of the show he saw the BMW Isetta finish and said that he could have done the MM in his one - so why didn't he?

All extremely staged in my opinion and he deserved to fail - principally because he had no idea how to treat an 'old' car and everything was left to the last minute. He was only in it to make money as far as I can see, as he said that by driving his Mazerati it would make the ?850k investment a ?1 million sale, which surprises me

If he does it again perhaps he'll chose a car that has already been proven.

[Thotos]

If anyone who didn't see it will like to see it, the programme will be repeated on Sunday 4th January 2009 at 7:00pm on BBC2. Of course that information is only of use to those of us who can receive BBC2 TV which presumably includes Ireland? 

[theredx19]

The man was a prat but the reason behind such a rare car was to ensure his entry into the race but with the engine she would have been running sodium valves to take the heat and that engine did sound like a dropped valve as they do make a very heavy knock, but I loved the attitude of the mechanic "finito"

[curt]

His mechanic should have been shot?
If that was me in my old days-and as they said they had loads of spares-They should have whipped the head off instead of messing with spark plugs which given the horrendous knocking-I wouldnt have done anyway-first thing would have been drop the sump and look for the obvious rod that was trying to break away from the crank ( in my humble opion) . Obviously the engine rebuild was not so good and again in my opinion one of the rod end bearings was either wrong or ran dry(could be oil pump but i guess they had a pressure gauge)
If this was the case a shell bearing change would be less than 3 hours work-but instead they fiddled with sprk plugs and then went to bed-After Running round looking for a valve replacement that wasnt even confirmed?
A good show all the same but a bit annoying to those of us who are better
 mechanically knowledged
If james does read this -Ill be your mechanic if you try again next year?

[theredx19]

I would have to disagree sorry but by taking out the plug you will find debris on it from the valve failure and also as it had a major miss on at least 2 cylinders this would normally eliminate bearing failure unless a rod broke free but you would expect to see damage on the outside of the block. James had said earlier that a race fuel was being used so this would need sodium valves which have a bad habit of braking up, this engine was rebuilt by professionals in these engines and James never tested or ran  it in which I would say was against the advice of the builder but he was not even sure as to what the max rpm on running in was but running in on a race what a prat. And if you ever saw the damage from a dropped valve his mechanic was right to walk as James had not got spare pistons which was against advice.