Pictures:
The presenter is being treated at Leeds General Infirmary
The scene at the former RAF airfield where the crash happened
Posted on 09/21/2006 12:16:39 AM PDT by Spktyr
BBC NEWS
TV host seriously hurt in crash
Top Gear's Richard Hammond is seriously ill in hospital after a crash in a jet-powered car while filming for the BBC programme.
The 36-year-old presenter was taken by air ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary's neurological unit.
A spokesman for the hospital said Mr Hammond was "stable".
Mr Hammond had been driving a dragster-style car capable of reaching speeds of up to 300mph at the former RAF airfield in Elvington, near York.
The crash will be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive and the BBC.
The BBC said in a statement: "We are looking into all the factors of this accident and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage until we know the full situation."
The dragster car he was driving was believed to have been travelling at about 300mph when it crashed.
He has brought an awful lot to the programme Quentin Willson, former Top Gear presenter
Motoring expert Adam Rayner, of Fast Car magazine, said that at those speeds the driver would experience forces similar to those endured by fighter pilots.
"These cars accelerate at 6G - the force is breathtaking and stopping is a real difficulty," he said.
Former firefighter Dave Ogden, who runs private firm Event Fire Services, was one of the first people at the scene of the crash.
He said: "We were down there with Top Gear who were filming him trying to break the British land speed record.
"On the previous run, the car had just gone over 300mph but I am not sure if it had broken the record.
"They had just done one more run and were planning to finish when it veered off to the right.
"One of the parachutes had deployed but it went on to the grass and spun over and over before coming to a rest about 100 yards from us."
He said his crew and an ambulance that was already on the airfield rushed over and found the car upside down and "dug in" to the grass.
Mr Ogden said he felt for a pulse and heard Mr Hammond breathing before the emergency crews worked together to turn the car the right way up and then cut him free.
He added: "He was regaining consciousness at that point and said he had some lower back pain. But he was drifting in and out of consciousness a little bit."
{Former Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson said the presenter was "irreplaceable".}
He said: "He is a wonderful, unique and distinctive Top Gear presenter.
"He has brought an awful lot to the programme and his indefatigable energy, the fact that he tries absolutely anything once, may have been the reason that he has overstepped the mark a bit.
"He has turned Top Gear into a gang show with Jeremy and James and the three of them have wowed audiences all over the world and he is an international personality."
Mr Willson added: "There is no pressure from the BBC or the producer to take undue risks.
"But that pressure is in your own head. You want to do an item on the programme which is mindblowing.
"You want to do a fantastic item that blows everybody away."
The presenter, who works on Top Gear with fellow hosts Jeremy Clarkson and James May, grew up in Solihull, was educated in Yorkshire and lives near Cheltenham with his wife and children.
In addition to presenting Top Gear for the BBC, he also fronted Brainiac on Sky One until recently. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/5365676.stm
Published: 2006/09/21 06:27:45 GMT
© BBC MMVI
Pictures:
The presenter is being treated at Leeds General Infirmary
The scene at the former RAF airfield where the crash happened
Also, does anyone have any interest in starting a Gearhead ping list?
I first caught this guy on youtube (the episode where they try to destroy the Toyota pickup truck) and was hooked. Thinking this is the same show, anyway.
May God watch over him and may he heal quickly and fully.
It's the same show. It's great, and they skewer a lot of automakers on it. It's also interesting to see each reviewer's take on different cars.
UK Ping, I think. You'd know better than I.
My British friend showed me a video of this guy "playing darts" by firing full-sized cars from a cannon onto a giant target painted on the bottom of a pit. I wish Clarkson a speedy recovery.
On the positive side, he absolutely loathes environmentalists.
Regards, Ivan
It was Hammond, not Clarkson that crashed.
No, not Clarkson, but Richard Hammond.
Top Gear is a nice show.
You have a point there. Although he seems to save his worst ridicule for Americans, and seems to have a secret love for the French. Or at least their cars.
I do agree with him about environuts. I've got almost every episode of Top Gear except some in seasons 4 and 5. I think he's full of it about American preferences, but what do I know? I'm an American that owns two Jaguars, not two land barges. :-P
I hate French cars, myself.
Regards, Ivan
Thanks for the correction. In any case, Top Gear is an interesting show.
http://www.topgear.com/
Do they air this show on BBC America.
Here's my two Brit emigrés, prefaced by some stills from Top Gear:
I saw a video clip of him putting a McLaren F1 to the test.
Alas, they don't. Discovery was running edited versions for a while, then Clarkson ran his mouth after Katrina and Discovery dropped it like a piece of molten lava. Discovery claimed that they were going to do a US version, but I think our idiot litigious culture would preclude that.
I've been catching it via the Top Gear website (while the season is on), and getting copies through BitTorrent. If you want to watch some segments, you can find them on YouTube, or you can take your BitTorrent client to www.finalgear.com and get linked up there.
I think the best Hammond review I ever saw was the one where he reviewed the Morgan Aero 8 GTN.
Thanks for the info. I will try catching it online.
Update: From FinalGear.com -
This is the car he was driving: http://www.thule.co.uk/partners/blsr.asp
"Update 21/09 8am - Leeds Hospital say his condition is 'improving'"
Hammond takes a paycheck from the BBC who regularly crap on the US and the Iraq effort in every way possible, even when they have to invent "sexed-up" lies. Hammond helps draw in viewers to the anti-US/Conservative BBC propaganda machine that regularly does the PR work of the Terrorists (oh sorry did I just use that word banned on BBC?). Hammond is at the very least a willing tool who certainly knows what the BBC is about, and I got many many other worthwhile people in the world to care about other than a tool of the "defective" BBC.
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