richard hammond in 280mph crash

[UrbanKhoja]

bbc's top gears richard hammond is reported to have been involved in a serious crash earlier this evening, at around 280mph, in the `vampire car` capable of over 300mph its powered by a rolls royce engine. lets hope the hamster is ok and that the beeb dont use it as an excuse to cut top gear!

http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/update-sky-news-reports-top-gears-richard-hammond-driving-vampire-jet-car-at-280-mph-at-time-of-accident-202054.php

[lasher511]

Hmm Maybe It was the cars getting revenge on him after he smashed all those cards on top gear. Hope he recovers though he was a pretty cool guy.

Why isnt their a just ok option in that poll i mean i watch it when i can but its no biggie if i miss it

[mesamb1]

Wow, that was a high speed crash.

[happygeek]

That's a real shame, he seems like a nice guy if a bit of a dumb one for taking on the challenge of attempting to break the British land speed record. Heck, the chap's a motoring journalist turned TV presenter, he is not a professionally trained and experienced driver. I note that both Clarkson and May had turned down the drive...

[hollystyles]

Richard Hammond has a well known addiction to speed.

[UrbanKhoja]

turns out they reckon it was more like 315mph, has anyone else heard the rumors that the beeb wants to axe top gear? im only really asking as a couple of people were mentioning it on a blog i was looking at yesterday, hopefully he makes a fast and full recovery and gets back to what he's good at - pushing fast cars to their limit & trashing caravans.

[happygeek]

Richard Hammond has a well known addiction to speed.

Just goes to prove that drugs and driving don't mix then :)

[hollystyles]

Lol. I didn't even see that when I wrote it.

Of course I meant speed as in pace not the substance.

[happygeek]

If he had been addicted to speed, would it have felt like he was driving at 560MPH instead of 280?

[hollystyles]

Iv'e read quotes of 315mph, I guess it will be a while till we know officially, unless someones knows something I don't.

[happygeek]

'Close to 300' is still the official speed as far as all my usual press sources are concerned. If he had been doing 315 he would have broken the land speed record by some margin, as it stands at 300.3 - in a Vampire funnily enough and established 6 years ago now.

Also looks like the word is that he has a 'significant' brain injury...

[Ancient Dragon]

anyone driving that fast diserves whatever he gets. That's called "the theory of evolution at work", or "survival of the fitest". Hopefully he did not pass along his bad genes to any children.

[jwenting]

Why can we select only one option here? :)

anyone else heard the rumors that the beeb wants to axe top gear?

anti-car fanatics have been trying for years to get Top Gear axed, claiming everything from "it's bad for the environment" to "it glorifies bad driving".

It remains one of the most successful programs the Beeb has, and one that actually sells well abroad.

[happygeek]

anyone driving that fast diserves whatever he gets. That's called "the theory of evolution at work", or "survival of the fitest". Hopefully he did not pass along his bad genes to any children.

Not absolutely fair comment methinks, not least becuase he is married with a couple of small kids.

That aside, do you think a F1 driver 'deserves it' if he crashes and is killed, or how about a rally driver, or heck even a police car driver on route to an incident?

[Ancient Dragon]

>>how about a rally driver, or heck even a police car driver on route to an incident?
those people are not driving at 300+ mph!

>>That aside, do you think a F1 driver 'deserves it' if he crashes and is killed

he knows the risks before he started. Whether he diserved it or not depends on the circumstances.

hammond on the otherhand, had to be a nutcase who gets his kicks by driving really really fast automobils. I have little, or no, sympathy for people like that. I feel more compasion for his surviving family who will have to spend the rest of their lives without him.

[jado]

Wow. AWSOME!!!!!! LOL! I don't live in the UK but we get OLD 2005 episodes on this really bad channel called SBS. Anyway, LOL that's heaps funny.

[mesamb1]

Dont feel upset at him. He probably had a litteral addiction and it was an accident. it was never the intention to crash.

[jado]

I mean the car. 280mph (450kph). Geez thats FLATOUT!

[UrbanKhoja]

>>how about a rally driver, or heck even a police car driver on route to an incident?
those people are not driving at 300+ mph!

>>That aside, do you think a F1 driver 'deserves it' if he crashes and is killed

he knows the risks before he started. Whether he diserved it or not depends on the circumstances.

hammond on the otherhand, had to be a nutcase who gets his kicks by driving really really fast automobils. I have little, or no, sympathy for people like that. I feel more compasion for his surviving family who will have to spend the rest of their lives without him.

i cant say i agree with you on that one, not that i recomend people goand build jet cars and do the same, but most people wouldnt turn down the chance of driving one if the right precautions were in place, even then as we can see accidents can still happen,

"Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond suffered a "significant brain injury" after the 370mph jet-powered car he was driving crashed on an airfield, doctors said." - guardian unlimited

"
"It is a very hard time for both me and my wife. We are just hoping that Richard pulls through. At the moment we are not sure if he is going to live or die. His children are very confused," he told the Evening Standard.
But Richard's brother, speaking to reporters at the hospital in Leeds, was more upbeat. He said: "He's making a bit of good progress. Both his brothers are here and his wife. The doctors are very pleased."

anyone in that condition deserves sympathy no matter how they got there, although im surprised that a few people didnt know what top gear was though lol

[UrbanKhoja]

just found this on the ol t'internet, the nice chaps at pistonheads.com setup a funraising page for yorkshire air ambulance (the ones who airlifted hamster to hospital) - so far they have around £26,214.00

http://www.justgiving.com/PHRichardHammond?page=1#donationtable

[lasher511]

I thought he was still alive and just in hospital. I feel more sorry for the poor sap whos car it was that he smashed.

[lasher511]

Wow. AWSOME!!!!!! LOL! I don't live in the UK but we get OLD 2005 episodes on this really bad channel called SBS. Anyway, LOL that's heaps funny.

What are you on SBS rocks it has all kinds of things like, nudity and south park and aboriginals telling about the stolen generation for like the 6000th time.

[UrbanKhoja]

update from the guardian unlimited -
" The fact Richard Hammond was able to regain some consciousness in the immediate aftermath of his high-speed accident could bolster hopes of a good recovery, according to experts.
Neurosurgeon John Firth, of Nottingham, said that regaining consciousness or being able to speak immediately after such an accident would point towards the brain beginning to fight back against the initial injury.
But he said that the next 10 days could be crucial in determining the outcome with doctors likely to be on the look-out for swelling, haemorrhaging or clots"

as far i know, the car was specially made, as sponsered by thule (think they make roof racks and stuff) so hopefully they are more worried about hamster than the car. wow £27,458.50 has now been raised for yorkshire air ambulance.

[jwenting]

What are you on SBS rocks it has all kinds of things like, nudity and south park and aboriginals telling about the stolen generation for like the 6000th time.

We call is SBS Sex over here (they call themselves SBS Six :mrgreen: ).

[tgreer]

I loved Top Gear, when I could see it. My cable provider dropped it. It was so completely about cars, without any pretense at anything else. Love cars? So do we, and here's a show about driving some of the best in the world. Can't fault that.

On another note, has anyone noticed a shocking lack of apostrophes on Daniweb recently?

[UrbanKhoja]

and best of all they always have an array of stupidly fast cars, cars we could only ever own by selling our bodyparts on ebay, like the koenigsegg ore the aerial atom, buggati veyron, zonda, channel 5's fifth gear; watch and learn! childish it may be but who wouldnt want try and out run a jetfighter in a lotus elise, or a challenger 2 tank in a range rover? utter madness - but we love them for it!

[UrbanKhoja]

hamster is said to be making a slow but good recovery, although at the request of his family details aren't being released to the media, its now believed that a burst tyre may have caused the crash, pending investigation the BBC could face prosecution if appropriate safety precautions weren't taken.

[jado]

Seriously, that's stupid that he was allowed in a car faster than an F1 car and those drivers need a special licence!

[happygeek]

I agree 101%, the guy should never have been allowed into the thing.

The fact that it was done as part of his job, purely to help boost the ratings of a TV show, makes me think that the BBC need to be held to account here.

If anyone should have been driving that car for Top Gear it should have been The Stig, surely?

[UrbanKhoja]

good point, think its an arts licence you for f1 or rally, even still ; the car was a one off so it would be hard to predict the handling and acceleration, as it was a jet engine proberly from aircraft origins surely a pilot should have driven it, or did they refuse due to the risk?