Hammond crash

What they should really have a go at is things like the Ben Fogle show "Extreme Dreams", or that one last year where they had all those disabled people trekking through the jungle for no particular reason. Sooner or later a member of the public in one of those shows is going to get totally deathed up.

..and the BBC would be solely responsible for forcing cripples into the mouths of tigers, I'd imagine.

I could write an essay on why I hate tabloid journalism right now.

Not sure that it will tone most of what they do down, remember this was a very specialist vechicle built and driven for a very specialist purpose. It is totally unlike anything else that's been driven on the programme - they are mostly production cars with the occasional very well planned and very safe stunt (such as the caravan, amphibious vehicle and convertible 'chalenges' in the last series)



Completely un-representative of course, how much time did they spend showing all the other slightly dangerous items that went perfectly fine!?

Er...why is anyone calling this a stunt? It was a genuine attempt at a land speed record, which has been a commonplace occurrance at places like Elvington for over 100 years. This wasn't as dangerous as spinning a Konigsegg at 120mph or even driving a heavy Dampervan into a lake. The Vampire was built for the very job it was doing and had done said job very well...I even saw it do exactly what it was doing yesterday at RAF Fairford. The fact that Richard suffered no external injury, that the roll cage survived intact (the pictures of it now show it disconnected only because the firemen cut it away) and that he is above all alive, conscious and recovering, prove that this was a freak accident which, while being able to be predicted, was not expected. I believe what happened is that when the parachute was deployed it decelerated the car to such an extent that Richard inadvertandly mishandled the controls...either that or a sidewind compromised the parachute's effectiveness.

And as for suggestions that Top Gear be pulled, well, if and when Richard recovers then it should carry on, even if he cannot participate in it any further. And doubtless they have already filmed hundreds of hours of footage for this forthcoming season so to shelf all that work, editing and preparation (Top Gear has some of the highest production values around) seems over-the-top to me. An unemotional way of looking at it is that one man is not bigger than the show. What is most likely, if Richard is discharged in the next few weeks or so, is that maybe the current upcoming series may be delayed somewhat.

The snooker's on in a couple of weeks anyway....

Well Di, the driver and Dodi weren't wearing seatbelts; Di's bodyguard was, which is why he probably survived.

I'm sure Mr Hammond was belted in securely, wearing a thick helmet and proper saftey gear. The Vampire is built for high-speed driving, so I should imagine it is made of sturdy stuff, and the roll bar probably helped protect Richard too. The factors I have just mentioned, are probably the reasons that he didn't get worse injuries or death.

I wish him the best, and I hope gets well soon.

And they got their facts wrong. The man who died doing the Late Late breakfast Show wasn't on Live TV when it happened, he never appeared on TV as he died in training for the stunt.

That accident caused the scrapping of the Late Late breakfast Show

I also noticed ITV News credited Endemol for a clip of I'm a Celebrity.

Firstly I would like to say that I've read your post with interest and noted everything you've said however . . .

I know the person who built the Vampire and I can tell you for a FACT that it was never built to do that. It was built solely for quarter mile exhibition runs.

It's great to hear your comments on why you think this happened - can I ask how you are qualified to make these judgements?

Sorry if this has already been mentioned because I havent really been following this thread but on GMTV this morning they said that apparently when Richard Hammond was getting air-lifted that he wanted to do a piece to camera

Since when was it a prerequisite on TV Forum to be "qualified" to state an opinion?

At least Alexia doesn't make claims of such qualification - unlike a highly dubious poster in this thread.

How? He was sort of, unconcious?

The fireman at the scene and the air ambulance man both reported that he was talking, so perhaps he was drifting in and out of consciousness.

It's great to hear that he's making progress. I wonder why neither Clarkson or James May have said anything on camera yet? They've both given quotes to reporters but I'd have thought that after 48 hours it would have been more comforting for worried fans if they'd actually said these comments in front of a camera. They're both telly men, after all. Have the BBC advised them to keep schtum, do you think?