Rs Baz

dont know if its been posted before i cant find it in search
so im putting it up

The owner of the jet car involved in a high-speed crash which nearly claimed the life of Richard Hammond appeared to lay the blame for the accident on the Top Gear presenter.

Dramatic footage of the crash clearly showed the car's right front tyre shredded following a blowout as Hammond tore down an airfield runway at speeds approaching 300mph.

He appeared to lose control of the dragster, which veered off the runway on to the grass before overturning.

But in TheSun newspaper, Colin Fallows suggested Hammond was to some extent to blame for the crash by "failing to adhere to the briefing".

He said: "Mr Hammond had a puncture and carried on with the tyre deflated", adding that Hammond "stood on the brakes" after the blowout.

He said: "Once these cars are in motion you don't touch the brakes. You stay on the prescribed line and should always be aware of the unexpected.

"By failing to adhere to the briefing, what would have been a controllable incident ended in a major accident."

The BBC and Mr Fallows' firm, Primetime Landspeed Engineering, may be prosecuted for failing to take due care, the paper said.

On Sunday night, dramatic footage of the 288mph crash was shown for the first time.

Aired on Top Gear's first show of the new series, it revealed the 36-year-old's miraculous escape when he crashed while filming a stunt for the programme in September.

89xr2

Like you're thinking clearly at 288mph when you get a blow out! Tyre didn't look flat to me.

Sounds like the guy's trying to lay the blame off on someone else. First time we saw that clip my mate said (the tyres on that are fucked, you can see how worn they are) and then you see the tyre delam and hammond crash.

Rs Baz

so really thay shouldnt off let him go again

c9sse

i think the crash was partly to do with hammond due to the time the tyre was coming apart and the actual blown out.if it was someone use to that speed (pilot)then they would be looking out for problems than being overwhelmed with the speed that they are doing.
but let not take away from what he did 300+ in the second run hats off to him.

morcheen

i heard he was not supposed to go the second time,but did anyway,maybe that's why the owner is calling it his fault ? is there any investigation going on about it? and will the bbc (us) have to pay out for the damge,no matter who blames who?

Rs Baz

that is a good question mate

Danny B

Its down to driver experience, If hammond was told not to brake but pull the chute then thats exactly what he should have done, Although as its not his instict due to lack of experience in that type of car he's brain told him brake. With the exception of a few top fuel car drivers many proffesional drivers would have done the same thing I guess.

With regards tyres they have very little tread from new so I would say a video clip would show the tyre condition clearly.

I actually know Colin in person and he has ran a very proffesional set up for over 30yrs and he would not put anyone in a car he thought was dangerous and he does know what he's on about when it come to driving this type of car.

mcgoo

On Top Gear they said there was 0.4 seconds from the tyre letting go till he went off the track, thats not even enough time to think about reacting let alone doing something about it

Billabong

Saw that in the news last week, Clarkson also got slated for his "Speed kills" comment - gawd only knows what they're going to say about his comment tonight about people doing 50 in the outside lane of the motorway

EIL132

More to the point, how many runs can the tyres do? They weren't changed according to press reports. Adhering to the briefing means A we shouldn't have let this guy drive the car as he doesn't have super human reflexes if it goes tom tit and B we fucked up.

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

LMFAO.... With .4 of a second from tyre BEGINNING to show a problem to actually blowing out, what chance in hell would ANYONE had to do anything about it?

Secondly, I laughed this week, when on the news it was reported "the crahs in which Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond so very nearly lost his life in, is now belived to have been due to a possible problem with one of the tyres on the car" - really? No shit!

89xr2

I wonder if we'll see a decrease in the amount of fuckers doing it now though just in case people think they're pedos!

jammy86

Thats what I thought too. I dont see how he could have reacted in 0.4s either. It seems to me that its more the fault of the tyre technicians and tracksmen and nothing to do with the Hamster.

They are gonna get plenty of complaints about tonights show im sure was class.

Also they keep going on about it being a record, though they didnt do it two times. I saw a 318mph at santapod over the summer......

JAmes

morcheen

from what mini jez said about the track being open until 5:30 iirc, he thought he would do another run,this sounded like a vailed admission that he knew he was not supposed to.and maybe the two runs to set a record had a lot to do with it,and his ego.and how many runs can the tyres do? and how many runs did the stig do? so many questions,with very few answers so far !

GrahamM

I saw that too.

I recorded that run on my camcorder. Urs Erbacher 4.747 @ 318.55mph

jammy86

GrahamM Well in Mate what a day, the only problem was it was over so quick i kind of wasnt sure if it had happened at all..... weird! Roll on the finals 07!

JAmes.

jammy86

Ps. HAHA! I can see myself in that right at the end, well I am assuming its me, i'm standing next to my brother.

Darn nice footage there, I like the way it stutters as it passes some noise!

JAmes.

PinkRinse

He actually did 7 or 8 runs that day. If the tyres were getting worn & Hammond was pushing it, wanting to do that one more for a certain shot etc (not saying he did), the guys in charge of the car should have just said "Right that's it no more", refused to restart it, taken the jet car and gone home.

If it were me and I knew full well the car could only safely do 4-5 runs on the tyres I would have either told them to sod off and or change the ruddy tyres! Insurance issues and health & safety would have been at the forefront of my mind! Its a jet car ffs!

The owner of the car also did a run in it before Hammond touched it to make sure it was running ok too...

GrahamM

That's something to do with converting it to windows media, it's not like that on the original video.

nrg19uk

on the second run he says it is pulling to the right, surely he would have known then that there was a problem, i would have taken it too national tyres too get the tracking done atleast lol