Hammond crash

He was phasing in and out of consciousness.

I am in no way qualified to comment on this situation, other than the fact I keep my eyes and ears open. Richard WAS doing short runs - if an engine gets from 0-280 in 4 seconds then burns out like I saw it do at Fairford then maybe a quarter mile is all the distance he'll get.

I don't care if you know the bloke who built the Vampire, doesn't make YOU an expert on the subject any more than it does the rest of us who have been constantly filled with details about it by the media. My comments are guesswork and extrapolation, nothing more. I never claimed to know exactly what happened nor will I ever.

How come the car holds the UK speed record if the Vampire wasn't built to attempt land speed records?

I didn't see this report but I saw the 'teaser' on the 6.30pm news. It went exactly like this:

Mark Austin: "Have TV stunts gone too far as presenters risk more and more for the sake of an exciting report? We'll take a closer look later."

<Cut to Mary Nightingale>

Mary: "But first, what's it like to be seen through the sights of Taliban guns and weapons? Our reporter went with UK troops to the most dangerous and exposed army base in Afghanistan. While he was there the camp came under attack, with the Taliban militia only hundreds of yards away. The terrifying struggle for soldiers on the front line is shown for the first time now in this exclusive report for ITV news."

<cut to report>

I kid you not!

Because it's a bloody private matter between friends and coleagues - they are under absolutely no obligation to feed the media circus and make it more of a celebrity event!

It looks like he's pulling through now - it'd be nice to know the extent of this 'brain injury', but he appears well according to the statements from clarkson and co.

If he does make a complete / near complete recovery, do you think we'll ever get to see the footage of the incident? Obviously it's under embargo at the moment due to the whole thing being subject to a police (?!) investigation, but once they realise there's nothing illegal about it, surely then the footage will be seen?

Also, if you search youtube there are around 4 or 5 videos which have been 'removed by user' claiming, and indeed appearing (by the thumbnail) to be the footage.

Of course nobody's under any obligation to say anything - I just thought they would have wanted to, given the fact that Hammond has many anxious fans who would have appreciated hearing a few words from his co-presenters. Clarkson's a highly experienced TV man who's not normally camera shy, and I just find it strange that he's chosen only to speak to The Sun.

Because he works for The Sun as one of it's regular columnists perhaps . . . ?

Assuming Hamster returns to Top Gear, I don't see why not. It was, after all, part of a filming assignment which they'd basically completed at that point, and I think that provided he's made a full recovery he'd probably be happy to have it shown. And what better way to demonstrate how dangerous attempting the land speed record actually is?

I just hope he does make a full recovery. If he does, I'm sure he and Clarkson will get a lot of fun out of the incident (I can just see them disagreeing on something, and Clarkson blaming Hammond's "bang on the head" for impairing his judgement, and Hammond laughing.)

Yeah, he also works for the BBC.

Did I hear right on Sky News last night when they said that their reports indicated that the BBC didn't record this and had no intention to, they were just doing it to say that one of their presenters had broken the record.

I wouldn't have thought that this would have been the case, I would have thought that even if it was for this that the a news crew would have been there to report it, or that Top gear would report it at some point, though it does explain why no footage of the incident has been seen, though would it have been released if there was any?

Of course they were filming it, the whole event took place purely because of the TV programme*. There were no news crews there because it wasn't a news event until after the crash.

Presumably no footage has been released for the: it's Top Gears footage and it's being used for the investigation (possibly it's being held by the police). Also just like the Steve Irwin incident, it's just respectful common sense not to show it, at least until Richard Hammond is fully recovered



* Incidently, safety rules are diffrent if it's an event that is happening anyway despite the TV coverage - i.e. if this car run happened as part of a public event the resonsibility would be very diffrent

Joe.I'm disappointed in you.There you were all full of medical terms saying you're a consultant surgeon and an expert on the brain and old Tilly skewers you good and proper.
No wonder you're maintaining radio silence.
Over and out,I would say.

Cool! He's on the road to recovery!

< big hugs to the Hammond family>