Top Gear co-star seriously hurt in dragster accident
I am surprised I haven't seen anyone raise a thread on this, given the amount of controversy and interest Top Gear has raised with our community due to their ignorant views and opionions, and how all the US car forums talk about Top Gear's reviews and post videos on the net etc. Credit where it is due, their C6 Z06 review was surprisingly positive, and with good reason.
This has been the top news story in the UK and has also been doing all the rounds on motoring forums and on news websites (BBC, Sky, ITN).
Richard Hammond (aka The Hamster), seriously injured when a jet dragster crashed at speeds approaching 300 MPH in the UK:
This crash raises a lot of important points. One, why was he driving a jet propelled dragster? Ok, he may be an experienced driver and has obviously driven fast cars like Zondas (in the Zonda vs GT vs F430 review), Corvettes (the C6), but that is no training for a dragster. He was probably debriefed and explained on how to "drive" the dragster but that's not the same as having months of experience in one. Even The Stig would probably be out of his depths here.
Furthermore, Richard Hammond may be slim but I don't think he follows any fitness regime to help him withstand the g-forces at work. In fact, no car journalism probably does anything to help them fight that, then again, they're ok in a high performance car I would have guessed.
Hammond complained of finding it hard to change gears in the C6, yet he is put in a dragster? Intelligent move, that. :rolleyes:
Lastly, all the ignorance and arrogance at Top Gear (in the team of presenters collectively) has probably bitten them back in the a**. They always drop hints about how it is so easy to drive all cars in general fast in a straightline, but looks like they've learnt their lesson on that one now. :rolleyes:
And now we've got MPs complaining about how Top Gear is all about speed and performance and it's dangerous. All other motoring programmes cover the same types of cars but also family cars so lets ban those too. And lets ban football because footballers can suffer horrific leg injuries that can put them out of the game, and lets ban air travel because a mechanical defect can bring down a plane despite the reasoning, so it's dangerous too. Well, despite the programme's name, the programme still does reviews on boring cars such as Renault Clios with 1.2 engines. It's not all Ferrari's, Lambos etc as some people think, though we'd all like that and that's what viewers want to see, lol. They can see a Clio anywhere but they want fast cars because it's an experience seeing such cars in the studio. (Sorry, had to vent!)
Those lines on the runway look to be about 50 long. If that car was going 300mph where indicated (that's 440 feet per second) it seems to me it would not have made that abrubt of a turn, and it would have gone a lot further than it did off the roadway. Just my observation.
It was an attempt to break the British land speed record of 300.3 mph, previously set in 2000 by Colin Fallows. Apparently he was on his second run (To become official, two runs must be made within an hour in opposite directions.) when at least one parachute deployed and the vehicle swerved off the runway.
I am surprised I haven't seen anyone raise a thread on this, given the amount of controversy and interest Top Gear has raised with our community due to their ignorant views and opionions, and how all the US car forums talk about Top Gear's reviews and post videos on the net etc. Credit where it is due, their C6 Z06 review was surprisingly positive, and with good reason.
This has been the top news story in the UK and has also been doing all the rounds on motoring forums and on news websites (BBC, Sky, ITN).
Richard Hammond (aka The Hamster), seriously injured when a jet dragster crashed at speeds approaching 300 MPH in the UK:
This crash raises a lot of important points. One, why was he driving a jet propelled dragster? Ok, he may be an experienced driver and has obviously driven fast cars like Zondas (in the Zonda vs GT vs F430 review), Corvettes (the C6), but that is no training for a dragster. He was probably debriefed and explained on how to "drive" the dragster but that's not the same as having months of experience in one. Even The Stig would probably be out of his depths here.
Furthermore, Richard Hammond may be slim but I don't think he follows any fitness regime to help him withstand the g-forces at work. In fact, no car journalism probably does anything to help them fight that, then again, they're ok in a high performance car I would have guessed.
Hammond complained of finding it hard to change gears in the C6, yet he is put in a dragster? Intelligent move, that. :rolleyes:
Lastly, all the ignorance and arrogance at Top Gear (in the team of presenters collectively) has probably bitten them back in the a**. They always drop hints about how it is so easy to drive all cars in general fast in a straightline, but looks like they've learnt their lesson on that one now. :rolleyes:
And now we've got MPs complaining about how Top Gear is all about speed and performance and it's dangerous. All other motoring programmes cover the same types of cars but also family cars so lets ban those too. And lets ban football because footballers can suffer horrific leg injuries that can put them out of the game, and lets ban air travel because a mechanical defect can bring down a plane despite the reasoning, so it's dangerous too. Well, despite the programme's name, the programme still does reviews on boring cars such as Renault Clios with 1.2 engines. It's not all Ferrari's, Lambos etc as some people think, though we'd all like that and that's what viewers want to see, lol. They can see a Clio anywhere but they want fast cars because it's an experience seeing such cars in the studio. (Sorry, had to vent!)
Ok, gonna sound off on this one...
Why in the hell was he in a JetCar (Us Dragster guys jus call'em) Jet Cars.
1. He has "NO BUISNESS" in the Jet Dragster what so ever! I don't give a crap how many Exotics he's driven..you can compare the too...Apples to PUMPKINS so to speak..
2. Jet Dragsters are VERY TOUCHY because the only down force on the car is the front canards, shape of the body, and down angle of the engine in the chassis which provides most of the down force..Their abt. 3 to 5 deg. pointed down in the chassis.
3. Surely the "Idiots" that put him in the car would have had the "Wick" so to speak turned down for not to get close to Maximum Thrust.....I guess not the case..If the car went 300 or more MPH the the Bleed air valve was completely closed and the thing was "On Kill" so to speak..dumb
I've never driven a Jet Dragster - But I'm lic. NHRA S/C and TAD so the word "DRAGSTER" means "She don't like a lot of wheel movement"...from a drivers point of view...
I'm hope he recovers 100%...good show for TV..
Andy
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Hopefully he'll be ok.
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