2006-09-23 04:11:03 · 18 answers · asked by fatrocker666 1 in News & Events ➔ Current Events
Much too fast.
How many times have we seen Hammond himself driving on public roads and, turning to the camera with that boyish, wolfish grin, say something like "This car can lose your licence in under four seconds"?
Well we now know that car can also kill you in under 4 seconds.
Top Gear may make for entertaining telly - but can anybody doubt that there is a connection between the brainless lust for speed that Top Gear encourages in our national culture and the front page story in the Daily Mail about the junior doctor Margaret Davidson aged 26 years who was killed by a senselessly speeding teenager?
Neil Lyndon writes: "I wonder why on earth Hammond was allowed behind the wheel of the Viper drag car in the first place. But piloting a jet-propelled dragster is not the remotely the same thing as making the tyres screech on a road-going Porsche.
We don't know how much training Hammond might have done for this attempt but controlling a car that can accelerate from 0-250 mph in five seconds is not an ability you can pick up by reading the handbook.
By the way a Motor Sport Licence means nothing at this level.
It requires disciplined training, supreme fitness and a fighter pilot's mental capacity to process physical sensation and translate it into appropriate responses. Thought and action must fuse seamlessly as one in the few seconds of a dragster's run.
It is enlightening to compare Hammond and the lardy Top Gear lads (with their incorrigible cult of drinking and smoking) with Andy Green, the holder of the world's 763 mph land speed record who recently achieved another record with 350mph in a diesel car.
Nobody could possibly meet Andy Green without being impressed by his seriousness. Not only is he the RAF's top instructor for fighter pilots but he is also the perfect embodiment of the Corinthian ideal - lean to the bone, as fit as a race horse, sober, gentle and self-effacing. He stands for everything the Top Gear gang would despise - including his habit of driving slowly on public roads.
The show actively delights in driving cars as recklessly as possible. Is it any wonder, then, that so many young drivers are tempted to follow suit?
This is not just irresponsible, it is a criminal waste of public money. For how can it be right that the Government spends millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on advertising the dangers of breaking the speed limit, with those haunting images of children knocked down by speeding cars, and then the BBC uses public funds to make a programme that promotes the exact opposite mentality? It beggars belief.
So the only good thing that could be said for Richard Hammond's terrible accident is that it might stop the folly of Top Gear in its tracks, before it can endanger any more lives."
Richard Hammond had a Choice.
Dr Margaret Davidson aged 26 years hit and killed by a Joy Rider, the antics of which Richard Hammond and Top Gear encourage, didn't.
2006-09-26 13:40:36 · answer #1 · answered by Hebrew Hammer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Despite what anyone might say, Richard Hammond is a true pioneer. Going at speeds of 300mph and more is totally uncharted territory. Tyre manufacturers don't even yet understand how a tyre behaves at such speeds. The problem is phenomenal centrifugal force. In my opinion, they should never have used "car" tyres, be it of the racing variety. Why on earth they didn't use aircraft wheels and tyres is beyond me... Ultimately an experience like this makes you a stronger person and I wouldn't be surprised if he attempts the record soon again!
2016-03-27 04:26:38 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I heard 280mph,
Either way its not something to be proud of, people are saying he will get in the Guiness World Records for it ( which he actually won't). He obviously knew the risks he was taking getting behind the wheel of a car and going at crazy speeds like that,
But apart from that , i do wish him well
2006-09-23 04:12:56 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Between 280-300 mph
2006-09-23 04:29:09 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
About 285 when the accident happened, though he is said to have reached 315MPH in an earlier run, which is probably why a certain red-top quoted that in their headline.
2006-09-23 08:46:28 · answer #5 · answered by mr_carburettor 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
About 280mph he didn't crash he had a blow out with tyre that made him lose control
2006-09-23 04:18:33 · answer #6 · answered by braveheart321 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i got told it was 300mph thats a bit extream i think also someone told me he has now sat up in bed
2006-09-23 09:38:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anna B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
280 mph lucky guy get him to put your lotto ticket on
2006-09-24 12:15:23 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
too bloody fast!. but then it aint how fast you crash but what you crash in to that really matters
2006-09-23 04:16:15 · answer #9 · answered by duncan 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
break neck speed.
2006-09-23 04:58:34 · answer #10 · answered by David H 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋