It has just been reported that the crash Richard Hammon was involved in was not an attempt to break the land speed record but was an experiment into speed using similar technologies.
Doctors have also said that the TG presenter has suffered a “Serious brain injury” but they are hoping he will make a good recovery. Jeremy Clarkson and James May have visited him in hospital and in a comment to the reporters JC said “I would just like to say how heartened Richard will be when I tell him just how many motorists and truck drivers on my way here wound down their windows to say they were rooting for him. Both James and I are looking forward to getting our hamster back.”
I will keep this updated as I know more about what is happening but I just hope that Richard makes a good recovery and the H&S/BBC dont decide to take TG off the air.
Sky News: Top Gear Star’s 300mph Horror Crash
car · crash · jet car · richard hammond · thule · top gear · yorkshire
RICHARD EDWARDS · October 4, 2006 at 10:42
This was an accident waiting to happen. I watched the Top Gear programme where the went on a caravanning holiday and I realised that they were completley incompetent. They damaged the caravan , and reversed into others and damaged them and then burnt it down trying to put out a chip pan fire. You would have thought in a group of three adult males there would be one that would have enough common sense to deal with a chip pan fire but not in their case they behaved like three dummies.
Probably the biggest dummie is Jeremy Clarkson throwing the hand book away when he was building the kit car and then assembling it wrong, he seems to think that his carefree attitude impresses the viewers but it just demonstrates hes an idiot
RICHARD EDWARDS · October 4, 2006 at 10:59
Letting Richard Hammond drive that car had the obvious result. No skill, no training was just plain stupid.
Three so called motoring experts that cannot reverse a caravan is hard to believe. Its time the BBC employed competent people it would improve the programme no end.
Suggest Jason Plato and Tiff Needel (hope I’ve spelt that right)
How about a programme teaching people the basics of maintaining their car
Admin comment by wibble · October 4, 2006 at 12:28
Richard, I really doubt that the BBC will sanction the TG crew to do anything that would willfully cause damage to non-BBC property. The caravan story was mainly staged and as part of the filming the second caravan would have been arranged.
James May may well not be able to reverse a caravan but i’m sure that all that was seen was scripted and edited to become an amusing story for the show.
If Richard decided he wanted to drive a Jet car that was his own decision. He understands the risks involved and I’m sure that there would have been the full safety team, a detailed H&S report and masses of planning taken into the event to enure the safety of those involved.
The accident is a tragedy and I can fully see why people are asking questions about what is going on but at the end of the day Richard decided that he wanted to drive the car for his love of speed and excitement as much as the entertainment factor it could prove to be for the viewers.
It is much the same as the people who do other extreme stunts but the only reason that people are making such a fuss is that Richard is a celebrity figure. If people are stupid enough to go off and try these things without a proper safety setup then they are foolish and shouldn’t be allowed near cars.
If, as a result of this, the BBC decide to scrap TG then it will be a shame because I find that Fifth Gear doesn’t match the show for entertainment. The first two episodes of the new series were, in my opinion, dull compared to what has been seen in the past. Now this is not to do with the fact that FG aren’t throwing themselves through the front windscreens of their cars but I find, with the exception of Tiff, that the presenters fail to make it an interesting experience.