Grand Tour host Richard Hammond was involved in a serious car accident in Switzerland. Top Gear and Grand Tour's Richard Hammond crashes a million dollar sports car Richard Hammond crashes a Croatian supercar

Over the past 3 months, Richard Hammond has had 2 accidents! The latter happened on June 10, when, during the filming of season 2 of the Grand Tour in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Richard was driving an expensive sports electric car Rimac concept one could not enter the turn. This moment was captured on camera:

According to Jeremy and James, they heard the explosion and immediately ran to the scene of the accident, where they saw Richard lying not far from the burning car.

Hammond was incredibly lucky, he was injured in the form of a crack in his knee while rolling over the car, but managed to get out on his own before the electric car caught fire. The cost of the car is estimated at $ 1 million.
On the day of the accident, Jeremy Clarkson tweeted that it was the worst accident he had ever seen and that Richard was fine.

It was the biggest crash I "ve ever seen and the most frightening but incredibly, and thankfully, Richard seems to be mostly OK.

The injured presenter was immediately taken to the nearest hospital by helicopter and on the second day gave his video commentary from the hospital, where he thanks the medical service, his co-hosts for the salvation, and also apologizes to his wife and daughters for the fact that he such an idiot:

And just less than three months ago, Hammond had a previous accident! During the filming of the second season in Mozambique, the presenter fell off his motorcycle at high speed and lost consciousness. Despite the terrible incident, the host did not even have to seek emergency medical attention.

But that is not all. Back in 2006, while filming Top Gear, Richard also had a serious accident. The presenter hit it at the airfield, piloting a Vampire jet car at a speed of 464 km / h. Then the consequences of the accident were much worse, because doctors assessed his condition as “serious but stable”. Nevertheless, everything worked out.

It is hoped that such a long experience of accidents will make it clear to Richard that henceforth be much more careful.

English TV presenter R. Hammond was born on December 19, 1969 (Birmingham). Having received the appropriate education, having acquired the necessary experience, the showman began to try himself on television. When he first met Richard, Jeremy Clarkson said that he really liked this guy. In adulthood, presenter Richard Hammond began to lead the projects The Grand Tour, Helicopter Heroes, Sport Relief, Total Wipeout, Sport Relief 2010, "Scientific nonsense", publish news in publications (you can highlight the magazine The Daily Mirror).

Who is Richard Hammond

Thanks to his special character, the showman was able to quickly start working on television. Friends of the presenter note that he looks like an American, because he loves steaks, muscle cars, cowboy hats, long evenings around the fire with friends. To the numerous jokes of colleagues at work, the TV presenter always replied that he never used Botox, hair dye, did not resort to a tooth whitening procedure to maintain an attractive appearance.

Biography

The showman's father owned a notary office, so the Hammond family can be safely considered wealthy. Richard from an early age was distinguished by restraint, conservatism. As a rule, the boy was not attracted to fights, any troubles. The guy was inquisitive, every day he discovered something new for himself. When the boy was 7 years old, he began to attend a comprehensive school. Subsequently, Richard became a student at the Ripon Grammar School. He was interested in science, so at the age of 16 he became a student at the College of Art and Technology.

Personal life

In 2002, Amanda Etheridge became the showman's wife. Today he has two charming daughters, lives in Herdfordshire, has his own castle (the time of its construction - the XVIII century). The date of purchase of this place of residence can be considered 2008. In addition to the house, Richard Hammond owns a helicopter and a car fleet (the celebrity actively collects Porsche cars).

Radio and television career

Today, the celebrity humorously recalls his original place of work. First, the young man was hired as a radio assistant (BBC Radio York). The showman began to conduct one of the morning programs at the station. The TV star says his main responsibilities were serving tea, coffee, interviewing turnip farmers, blacksmiths who erected gates for the Pope.

Rich, as a young man, often changed jobs. After leaving the BBC Radio York, he managed to collaborate with several other radio stations. The presenter had to broadcast news programs. Subsequently, Richard said that the frequent change of work was due to his romantic nature. The guy believed that he had to gain experience, try himself literally everywhere.

Hammond has always had a passionate love for cars and technology, so when he hit television, he was given the opportunity to host Men & Motors programs. After working on the radio, the young man found himself in an unusual atmosphere for himself. However, this fact did not prevent him from successfully developing at Mens and Motors. Soon Richard was offered to lead projects of invisible worlds, Brainiac (the series "Brainbreakers" can be considered an outstanding project), Crufts (a program about animals).

Top Gear

The TV presenter considers the film Top Gear to be his dream job (time of participation - 2002). The Top Gear show began to operate according to a specific format. Richard was co-hosted by Jeremy Clarkson and James May. Often, colleagues at work called the showman hamster, which meant "hamster." His behavior was appropriate. The TV presenter was a big lover of something to eat. As Jeremy Clarkson noted, it was often food purchased "in the trailer around the corner."

Scientific Nonsense with Richard Hammond

This project is one of the most outstanding. In it, scholars detail how an adventure can be made up of many obstacles. The presenter presents various scientific experiments, unusual amateur video clips. Accidents of different people are demonstrated and analyzed from a scientific point of view. It tells why this or that trick ended in failure and humiliation.

In June, Jeremy, Richard and James began filming for the show's next installment, traveling through central Europe in Lamborghini, Honda and Rimac Concept One. Richard chose the last one on the list - an electric car worth about 2 million pounds. After reaching Switzerland, the presenters went to the city of St. Gallen to test the cars in the race on the uphill track. Richard Hammond's attempt turned out to be fatal - at one of the turns he lost control, the car was driven onto the lawn, it caught fire and burned to the ground.

Fortunately, Richard himself was hardly hurt. He managed to get out of the car before it caught fire. He was taken to a local hospital and diagnosed with a fractured knee. The film crew, especially Jeremy and James, were shocked by such minor injuries. They told reporters that "We were standing at the starting line and heard a crash like an explosion." Andy Wilman, the show's lead producer, said that “As soon as Jeremy and James heard the explosion, they immediately ran to the scene, expecting the worst. But they saw Richard lying a couple of tens of meters from the completely burnt car. " Jeremy later tweeted: “This is the worst accident I've seen and the worst. But surprisingly, and thankfully, Richard is pretty much okay. "

Richard himself today, June 11, added the following video message to his Drivetribe page: “Hello. Yes, it's true, I crashed. Again. And now I am here in a hospital in Switzerland. This is my knee, which should turn from this to this, I hope, already tonight. I want to thank the medical service that brought me here right from the scene of the accident. I also want to thank James May for bringing gin into my room yesterday. I shouldn't have said it out loud. And most importantly, I want to apologize to my wife Mindy and my daughters Izzy and Willie. Sorry for being such a colossal idiot. "

It is not yet known how much this accident will affect future filming of the show. About a week ago, James May said on a BBC 1 show that Season 2 would premiere in October 2017. Neither the hosts nor Amazon or The Grand Tour have made any official comments on the matter yet.

In the past weekend, accidents with the risk of life haunted celebrities! In addition to the last name of Jennifer Lawrence, who almost became a victim of a plane crash, on June 10, the western crime report lists the name of ex-host of the popular TV show about auto Top Gear Richard Hammond, who almost lost his life in a car accident.

Traffic accidents in the Swiss Alps

A terrible accident happened to 47-year-old English TV presenter Richard Hammond last Saturday in Switzerland during the filming of the next episode of The Grand Tour, in which he co-stars with Jeremy Clarkson and James May.

Hammond, driving a £ 2 million white electric car, lost control of the car at 120 mph and was thrown off the road to the side of the road. The car turned over and caught fire.

According to eyewitnesses, in whose eyes the incident occurred, they were sure that the artist had died, when suddenly the figure of the victim himself appeared from the glow of the fire, who managed to crawl out from under the car on his own before the fire broke out.

It is noteworthy that a crowd of onlookers immediately appeared at the scene of the accident, which Hammond personally drove away from the burning vehicle in a state of shock.

Photos from the scene of the accident

Death rumors

No sooner had the doctors taken Richard by helicopter to the hospital in St. Gallen, where after an examination it turned out that he had a fractured knee, sad information about his death appeared in the press and the network. To end this speculation, Hammond tweeted photos of himself from the hospital room on Sunday.

In the post, the showman thanked the doctors for the "new knee", and James May's colleague for the magic bottle of gin, which helped him to recover.

Hammond also apologized to his wife Amanda and daughters Isabella and Willow for having, albeit not intentionally, greatly frightened them.

Richard Hammond apologizes to his family, assuring him that he is an "idiot"

Richard Hammond with his family last month

The FIA ​​has asked the Swiss federation for clarification about Richard Hammond's crash at the Hemberg hill climb. We are talking about an incident in which an electric car worth a million dollars burned to the ground, and the driver - ex-star of the Top Gear show and host of the new TV project Grand Tour Richard Hammond - as a result, fell under the knife of surgeons.

We figure out what happened in Hemberg, and remember the past alterations of Hammond.

Burned out million

On June 10 and 11, the canton of St. Gallen hosted the first stage of the Swiss Hill Climbing Championship - "Hemberg Mountain Race". In addition to dozens of athletes, the hosts of the Grand Tour took part in the event as part of the show races between workouts. Jeremy Clarkson arrived in a Lamborghini Aventador S, James May was driving a Honda NSX and Richard Hammond went to the Rimac Concept One - a sports electric car with an 811 kilowatt engine, which is equivalent to 1088 hp. Created in Croatia, the car reaches a speed of 100 km / h in 2.8 seconds, and its maximum speed is 305 km / h, and this is the limit inherent in the electronics of the car. The cost of such a toy is one million US dollars.

The video shows how a white sports car goes along a serpentine road, blocks the wheels on one of the brakes and, after the rear axle skids, it flies out of the road. Soon there were photos of the burnt-out sports car.

Clarkson, May and Hammond filmed for their show. Clarkson's races passed without problems, Hammond went next to the track, but when May's turn came, yellow flags appeared over the track - Concept One flew off the track in one of the turns, fell off the slope. Richard got out of the car safely, and soon it caught fire. Hammond was taken to the hospital by helicopter, where he underwent surgery for a broken knee. We can say that the TV presenter got off easily.

Soon, the first records of the incident appeared on the Internet: a white sports car goes along a serpentine, blocks the wheels on one of the brakes and, after a rear axle skid, flies out of the road. Then there were photographs of a sports car burnt out to the ground - in fact, only a charred frame remained from the car, and it cannot be restored.

Initial speculations were that the accident was caused by Hammond's mistake, but Clarkson issued a statement stressing that his colleague knew the car well. “Hammond drove this car confidently - on the highway, on takeoff fields, and on mountain roads all four days. He had several passes that day. He knew the car well, knew how fast it was, and knew how to drive it. "

FIA case

On the day of the incident, another important detail of the incident appeared: the accident occurred after the finish line. The length of the sports track in Hemberg is 1758 meters, Hammond flew off the road 200-250 meters after the finish, eyewitnesses said. The incident miraculously managed without casualties - there was a spectator area at the place of departure of the car, but there were no fans there at that moment, and the FIA ​​drew attention to this.

For Hammond, this is not the first accident that could have cost him his life - 10 years ago he was in an accident driving a Vampire jet-powered dragster, on which Colin Fallows had previously set the official UK speed record.

It is not yet clear what exactly in this case could be the consequences for the Swiss motorsport industry, which appeared just a couple of years ago - before that 50 years of racing in the country were banned due to the tragedy at Le Mans in 1955, which claimed 83 lives.

Hammond himself, a couple of days after the accident, published his own photo on crutches, as well as X-rays. “I am happy to report that the leg is finished, it is working. The leg flexes in the middle, and although it may be problematic at the airport, it is now stainless, ”he said. - Soon I'll be back in the cage! "

Unofficial record holder

For Hammond, this is not the first accident that could have cost him his life - 10 years ago, he almost crashed while driving a Vampire jet-powered dragster. With this car, Colin Fallows previously set the official UK speed record of 483.3 km / h. They say the Vampire is capable of accelerating to 595 km / h.

Primetime Land Speed ​​Engineering, which prepared the car for filming, said that Hammond did not try to break that record, but telemetry from one of the races shows that the leader accelerated to 506 km / h - this figure is now considered the unofficial record for the country.

Concept One flew off the track in one of the turns, fell off the slope. Richard got out of the car safely, and soon it caught fire. Hammond was taken to the hospital by helicopter, where he underwent surgery for a broken knee.

The accident happened during the final drive - Hammond went to it so that the operators took additional footage. At some point, the front right tire burst, the dragster was thrown sideways to the side of the road, the car turned over several times. Eyewitnesses reported that the driver managed to throw out the parachutes, but they got entangled in the grass and could not control the speed.

Rescuers instantly rushed to the car. Hammond was unconscious, his pulse was being felt, and by the time the ambulance arrived, he was awake. Later, in one of the reports, it was indicated that the instant and professional reaction of the driver, who turned the car into a skid and managed to apply the brakes and extinguish the speed, avoided more serious consequences.

The consequences, however, were already serious. On September 21, the doctor who treated Hammond declared that his patient had "a serious brain injury," but expressed optimism that he would cope with it. And the doctor was right: the very next day - 30 hours after the accident - Hammond got out of bed.

It took a month and a half to recover. In November, Hammond got back behind the wheel, and in December he took part in the filming of Top Gear. He later made a documentary with Stirling Moss, where the legendary British pilot and Hammond recalled their crashes, shared feelings and discussed the feeling of fear on the race track.

And in September 2007, a year after that accident, Hammond was already racing two miles against the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter. But his Bugatti Veyron, alas, turned out to be slower.