Top Gear's Richard Hammond critical after 280mph crash

[201Motorsports]

http://www.24dash.com/showbiz_slapdash/10748.htm

Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson today paid tribute to his co-presenter Richard Hammond, who is in a serious condition in hospital after a high speed crash,

Clarkson, speaking at Leeds General Infirmary, where Richard Hammond is "serious but stable" in intensive care, 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.

"James May and I are at the hospital in Leeds where Richard remains in intensive care. Obviously at this time both he and his family are the most important concerns we have. It must be devastating for his wife Mindy and his two utterly adorable children.

"Both James and I are looking forward to getting our hamster back."

James May co-presents the BBC programme with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.

Hammond, 36, was airlifted to the hospital after the "rocket powered dragster" he was in crashed at Elvington airfield near York yesterday.

A spokesman for Leeds General Infirmary said Hammond's condition, which was described as serious but stable, had showed some improvement overnight.

The crash happened while he was filming an apparent attempt to break the British land speed record.

A former firefighter who was one of the first on the scene after the crash said Hammond had been travelling at speeds close to 300mph.

Dave Ogden, who runs private firm Event Fire Services, said the crash had happened on the last "run" of the day. Mr Ogden was helping to provide emergency cover at the airfield in case of an accident when he saw 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, found the car upside down and "dug in" to the grass.

Mr Ogden said he felt for a pulse and heard Hammond, who was unconscious, breathing, before the emergency crews worked together to turn the car the right way up.

They cut Hammond free, placed him in a neck brace and on a stretcher before the air ambulance arrived.

"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," Mr Ogden said.

The current British land speed record is held by Colin Fallows, from Northampton, in his dragster Vampire, which reached 300.3mph in 2000.

It was not clear whether Hammond had been using Vampire to make his attempt at the record.

Hammond, who often drives high-performance cars as part of presenting Top Gear, was born in Birmingham but lives just outside Cheltenham with his wife Amanda and two children.

He first appeared on British television screens on cable and satellite channels presenting motoring programmes before switching to the BBC's Top Gear in 2002.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "The focus of our attention is on Richard at this stage."

Top Gear magazine editor Michael Harvey told BBC News 24: "Clearly at those kinds of speeds the tiniest little thing has to go wrong and the speed obviously massively exaggerates the consequences of anything going wrong.

"This wasn't a high performance car, this wasn't a road car, this was a rocket-powered dragster which bears absolutely no relation to the kind of cars which are the main fodder of the Top Gear programme - this was a car that clearly contained its own risks."

He added: "I know every single precaution will have been taken but something clearly absolutely unaccounted for has gone wrong, and Richard has unfortunately suffered the consequences."

Former Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson said one of Hammond's best qualities was that he had "no fear".

He told BBC News 24: "It does sound very serious. It is a huge, huge tragedy. 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 is irreplaceable. 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."

A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said an inspector would be visiting the airfield today to make initial inquiries over the crash.

[sisforsurfing]

You just sent me this and it makes me sad. I hope he gets better, he's my favorite from that show.

edit: ooops repost.

[201Motorsports]

Makes me sad too

I'm sorry for the repost... just saw this thread.

[Will@TurboTek]

Wow. That sucks, figured that those dragsters were practically indestructable.

[Renegade_]

i dont think anything is indestructible @ almost 300 MPH when they hit a concrete surface

[Bean Bondurant]

It is sad news indeed, I wish him a speedy recovery. He has made me laugh so many times, late night, on youtube while I was doing HW!

[NoDrifto]

"On the previous run the car had just gone over 300mph but I am not sure if it had broken the record."

sad to hear....wonder if he did break the record.....hope hammy makes it back for the next season....or clarkson is gonna just bust on james may the entire time..

[james_ls]

Wow...what was it.

It says "dragster" but what specifically...that's rediculious.

Best of recovery.

[Will@TurboTek]

This is what he was driving...

[bastid]

In another article it stated that the Vampire was capable of reaching 280mph from a dead stop in less than 6 seconds. I hope he recovers!

[PotenzaSub]

he was trying to break the land speed record. he passed 300 MPH but wanted to do it again. That was when he crashed