Richard Hammond of Top Gear Injured

[rwhite692]

Richard was apparently attempting a land speed record and was involved in an accident, not too many details as yet. Hope he's OK...


Apparently Hammond was making an attempt at the British land speed record in the Thule Vampire, a 30-foot Rolls-Royce jet-powered dragster made in Sweden capable of reaching 272 mph in six seconds en route to a theoretical top speed of 370. The crash took place at over 280 mph.
Hammond is being treated at Leeds General Infirmary. According to one of the firefighters on the scene, Hammond was speaking (and therefore presumably conscious) as he was being rescued from the overturned vehicle.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6094256,00.html

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/09/20/update-details-on-richard-hammond-crash/

[evilzee28]

Richard is still critically ill in hospital but is now stable.He has suffered severe head/brain injuries as the car barrel rolled 7 times before landing upside down in a field. The fact that the car landed in a field also complicated matters as the roll cage had dug a furrow in the ground & his head/helmet was encased in earth & had to be dug out from the wreckage. Apparently he was travelling at 315 mph when he encountered problems with either his parachute or a burst rear tyre, the cause is unknown at the moment. This was his last run of the day having run the car several times earlier that day & wanted to do "just one more run" as he was enjoying it so much. It's unknown whether he's suffered permanent brain damge yet. Our newspapers are full of reports here in Britain & his condition is constantly being updated on the news, our thoughts are with him & his family.

[jannes_z-28]

Looks like the Hamster is going to recover. He has been up on his feet and has been moved out of intensive care.

An overwelming support has been showed from all over the world, Top Gears mailbox has recieived over 12.000 emails wishing him well.

Look here for more info:
http://www.topgear.com/content/news/stories/1112/


Jan

[rwhite692]

It's great to hear that Richard is doing better. I have always been a big fan of TopGear and of Richard, he is really something. I liked that show so much that I went to the extent of buying a hacked DVD player so that I could watch all of my (Region 2) Top Gear and Clarkson DVDs on my HT setup...

I'm sure that when he returns to the show, we will be able to see a tape of that run! :thumbsup:

[mazspeed]

I really enjoy his banter with Jeremy Clarkson. I'm happy that he's doing better.
They used to have Top Gear on the discovery channel, but don't anymore. I used to tivo the show every week.

[evilzee28]

The Hamster is indeed doing well & it's reported in the news here that his fast rate of recovery has really surprised the medical profession, having started walking & talking coherently already. He has now been moved to an ordinary ward to recover fully.
The downside is that the health & safety execs are now looking closely at the Top Gear programmes & the dangerous stunts they do & so far the plug has been pulled on playing any replays of "the best of Top Gear" & the next series, which was due to be screened soon has also been withdrawn until such time that the BBC is exhonerated of any possible blame. If it's found that safety could have been better then that's the end of Top Gear, unless Clarkson can convince the powers that be otherwise.

[jannes_z-28]

As I have understand it Top Gear is one of BBC best sales. They claim 2 billion viewers on many many countries. I do believe that Clarkson and the others are very well paid for the job they are doing.

If BBC is stupid enough to pull Top Gear I would imagine that Clarkson and Company start their own production company and do it themselves. It is a lot of money involved and I don't think they will let that go so easily.

Top Gear is in my opinion one of the best entertainment shows on the air now. Like the one from earlier this year when they made amphibious cars. James' sailing car was hilarious :rofl:

Lets hope the lawers gets voted down.


Jan

[evilzee28]

Latest update is that the Hamster has now been moved to a private hospital, where the specialist has said that he should make a full recovery in 6 months time. There is still concern over Top Gears future though & serious doubts as to whether it will be allowed to return to TV.