DRAMATIC footage of the high-speed crash which nearly claimed the life of Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond was screened for the first time last night.
The 36-year-old had a remarkable escape when he crashed a jet-powered dragster travelling at 288mph while filming a stunt for the programme at Elvington airfield, near York, in September. Hammond suffered brain injuries as he attempted to break the British land speed record.

The footage showed the moment a tyre burst on the Vampire jet car. It skidded and flipped over and was still travelling at 230mph as it careered upside down over a grass verge bordering the runway.

Hammond, who has no memory of the crash, watched alongside co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May. The film showed him making two successful runs before which he jokingly tells the camera it could lead to “possibly the biggest accident you have ever seen in your life”.

Clearly extremely nervous as he prepared to make the runs, he speaks of the “unbelievable” adrenalin rush after reaching 314mph.
In his final fateful run he is shown desperately struggling with the controls after the tyre bursts before it veers off the runway. The studio audience watched the footage in shocked silence before applauding him.

Clarkson told him: “You were very brave getting in that thing – it’s not something I would have done.”

It was the first time the father-of-two had appeared on the show since the crash.
He re-entered the studio down a flight of steps flanked by lines of showgirls and declared himself to be “fixed”. He said: “I am fixed. I am completely fixed and normal.” Assuring viewers he had not suffered long-term brain damage, he joked: “The only difference between me now and before the crash is I like celery now.”
He gave special thanks on the show to hospital staff at Leeds General Infirmary and in Bristol who helped save his life and bring him back to fitness as well as crews at the Yorkshire Air Ambulance who flew him to Leeds for emergency treatment.

(this article was taken from yorkshiretoday.co.uk)

This entry was posted on Monday, January 29th, 2007 at 11:56 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.