pare che la situazione per Hammond (Top Gear..) stia migliorando in fretta.. non so se è già stato postato, ma questo è il link alla prima intervista rilasciata da Hammond al Mirror, dopo l'incidente..
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_head...name_page.html
RICHARD HAMMOND EXCLUSIVE: THE DAY I DIED
'MY NOSE AND EARS WERE FULL OF EARTH ..I WAS INHALING A FIELD'
By Clare Raymond And Victoria Ward
ONLY the bloodshot white of his left eye gives any sign of how close Richard Hammond came to death after crashing a jet car at 288mph.
Speaking for the first time of the horror smash just 33 days ago, the Top Gear star and Mirror columnist said: "I was upside down inhaling a field. My nose and eyes were full of earth. I'd gone ploughing on my head.
"My very last thought was 'Oh bugger, that's gone wrong. Well, we're checking out now. You've had it'.
"I was aware of my brain saying 'We'll wave the flag' - and that was the point I passed out. Doctors use a point system. Fifteen is normal, three is a flatline. I was a three. I was that close to being dead.
"I was in a bad way when they came to get me. The air ambulance guys were amazed I was still breathing.
"Next thing I know I'm coming to in hospital. As far as I'm aware, I got into a car in York and woke up in Leeds."
Richard, 36, crashed his Vampire car at Elvington airfield, York, about a month ago. Astonishingly, the man nicknamed "Hamster" is now ready to return home.
Talking to the Mirror at a secret hideaway where he is recovering with his wife Mindy, 35, and daughters Izzy, six, and Willow, three, he said: "At first they said I'd be in hospital for 15 months.
"Yet here I am ready to go back home after five weeks. I'm so bloody lucky. I can't believe it.
"At the time of the crash I was doing 288mph so it's incredible that every doctor I've spoken to tells me I'm on course for a 100 per cent recovery."
The horror unfolded at the end of a day's Top Gear filming after Richard clambered into the phenomenally powerful jet car - holder of the British land speed record at 300.3mph - for one final run.
He had already made a series of successful runs getting faster at each attempt. He said: "It was the same every time. I got in, I sat there, a man came along, knelt on my chest and strapped me in with this bloody great harness.
"Every time he used to hurt me so much - and I'm bloody glad he did.
HE made sure my crash helmet was on and my visor was down. Then I put the starter motor on to start the jets and was ready to go.
"The car has got less knobs and buttons than a Nissan Micra. It's great. All you do is get in and press a button, literally.
"You take your foot off the brake and just set off down the track with unbelievable acceleration."
"There's no fear because you have to reassure yourself before you do something that the machine is good, the place is right and you're not going to suddenly have a cow on the track or something.
"You become in a suspended state of concentration thinking about what you're going to do. But there's no fear.
"If there was fear it would mean we'd have left something in the air.
"You have to be really strapped into these things and you wouldn't strap in if you thought 'I hope it doesn't crash'. That would just be catastrophic.
"So you go in thinking 'We've done everything, I know how the thing works, I know where I'm going, I know what I'm going to do. Let's get on with it and let it unfold'."
Richard set off on his final run and gathered speed. Then appalled observers saw the open cockpit Vampire suddenly hurtle out of control and crash.
The presenter said: "The car ended up upside down. There was just a roll bar above my head and I was breathing a field.
"Apparently it's true that I told them I needed to film a piece to camera. But I'm buggered if I can remember that.
"It's normal in serious head injuries that you get this initial moment when you think everything is OK. It's like after tripping over on the pavement and getting up like you meant to do it.
"It was like me getting knocked down by a bus and jumping up saying 'I'm fine, everybody!' But very quickly after that, things deteriorate sharply. It was 50/50 what was going to happen. I may have been dead, I may not have woken up.""
Two investigations are under way into the crash but Richard is adamant all safety procedures were followed to the letter.
He said: "I've absolutely no idea what went wrong. One minute I was there and the next I was buried head first, off the track.
THE whole idea had been to experience driving something very unusual. We chatted about the jet car and all I had to do was drive it. It was so easy.
"We wanted to use the afterburners because essentially, if an ordinary car has about 100 horsepower, after you light the afterburners it has 10,000 horsepower.
"It's an amazing amount of power. All I wanted to do was get to the point where I could drive it with the afterburners on, which I did. Apparently there was a load of stuff in the papers about us breaking a land speed record.
"That would be stupid because we'd be putting too much pressure on ourselves to hit a target.
"And in the Top Gear sense it's exciting enough, given that we're all 10-year-olds, just to go 'It's got a jet! How does it feel?' It was my job to explain how it feels. Get me in the car and I'll tell you what it's like.""
Richard is aware that the spotlight is on Top Gear now that the crash is being investigated.
He said: "On Top Gear we live in a world where we have to deal with an element of risk. It's our job to minimise it.
"We're so used to sitting down and deciding how to do things. It doesn't happen without a great deal of work and would never be any other way.
"So in my mind it was less calculable that anything had gone wrong. We spend our lives minimising risk so that's what I couldn't believe. That it had actually gone wrong"
He laughed as he added: "I was actually quite good at driving it. But clearly something went wrong and the day didn't turn out as we planned...to put it mildly!"
For the test, Richard was wearing a set of bright silver Formula One-style flameproof overalls. True to form he had entertained the crew all day darting about as the "Silver Flash".
He said: "I'd laughed about those pants all day. They were the silverest silver you've ever seen. But the point was, I had all the gear, we were all aware of the risks. It's the nature of the job."
Richard describes the crash helmet he wore as the "most spectacular crash helmet you've ever seen". He revealed the manufacturer wants it back to test, saying with a smile: "They told me, that after all it's the fastest test we've ever put it through."
But ultimately, he wants it back as his one souvenir of the day he almost lost his life.
Richard said: "I want it to go in a plinth on the wall in my office. Definitely.
For all I know, it saved my life. We proved that it's worth taking the measures that we take.
"If everybody hadn't been on their toes, if we hadn't had the best possible safety gear, if the crash helmet hadn't been the best, if the helicopter hadn't taken off...
"The very fact that I made it, is testimony to the fact that the precautions we ordinarily take are worth taking. I'm living proof that safety works."
It is hard to imagine the Top Gear ace so recently came so close to death. That bloodshot eye and his gaunt and pale complexion are the only giveaways.
POPULAR Richard, loved by millions of fans who have been praying for his recovery, joked around with his daughters, made faces and laughed over lunch.
And he smiled at the fact that it is only five weeks after he cheated death that he can properly describe what it is like to travel at 288mph in a jet car - and what it is like when it all goes horribly wrong.
Before he headed off for a much-needed nap, he had one final thing on his mind. Richard said: "Do you realise how annoyed I am that I've got no marks on me? Absolutely nothing at all, nothing for the pub.
"There are people who fall off their trikes at the age of four who've got better injuries than me. I've been through hell and I've got nothing to show for it except a chipped tooth! I'm gutted."
c.raymond@mirror.co.uk
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_head...name_page.html
RICHARD HAMMOND EXCLUSIVE: THE DAY I DIED
'MY NOSE AND EARS WERE FULL OF EARTH ..I WAS INHALING A FIELD'
By Clare Raymond And Victoria Ward
ONLY the bloodshot white of his left eye gives any sign of how close Richard Hammond came to death after crashing a jet car at 288mph.
Speaking for the first time of the horror smash just 33 days ago, the Top Gear star and Mirror columnist said: "I was upside down inhaling a field. My nose and eyes were full of earth. I'd gone ploughing on my head.
"My very last thought was 'Oh bugger, that's gone wrong. Well, we're checking out now. You've had it'.
"I was aware of my brain saying 'We'll wave the flag' - and that was the point I passed out. Doctors use a point system. Fifteen is normal, three is a flatline. I was a three. I was that close to being dead.
"I was in a bad way when they came to get me. The air ambulance guys were amazed I was still breathing.
"Next thing I know I'm coming to in hospital. As far as I'm aware, I got into a car in York and woke up in Leeds."
Richard, 36, crashed his Vampire car at Elvington airfield, York, about a month ago. Astonishingly, the man nicknamed "Hamster" is now ready to return home.
Talking to the Mirror at a secret hideaway where he is recovering with his wife Mindy, 35, and daughters Izzy, six, and Willow, three, he said: "At first they said I'd be in hospital for 15 months.
"Yet here I am ready to go back home after five weeks. I'm so bloody lucky. I can't believe it.
"At the time of the crash I was doing 288mph so it's incredible that every doctor I've spoken to tells me I'm on course for a 100 per cent recovery."
The horror unfolded at the end of a day's Top Gear filming after Richard clambered into the phenomenally powerful jet car - holder of the British land speed record at 300.3mph - for one final run.
He had already made a series of successful runs getting faster at each attempt. He said: "It was the same every time. I got in, I sat there, a man came along, knelt on my chest and strapped me in with this bloody great harness.
"Every time he used to hurt me so much - and I'm bloody glad he did.
HE made sure my crash helmet was on and my visor was down. Then I put the starter motor on to start the jets and was ready to go.
"The car has got less knobs and buttons than a Nissan Micra. It's great. All you do is get in and press a button, literally.
"You take your foot off the brake and just set off down the track with unbelievable acceleration."
"There's no fear because you have to reassure yourself before you do something that the machine is good, the place is right and you're not going to suddenly have a cow on the track or something.
"You become in a suspended state of concentration thinking about what you're going to do. But there's no fear.
"If there was fear it would mean we'd have left something in the air.
"You have to be really strapped into these things and you wouldn't strap in if you thought 'I hope it doesn't crash'. That would just be catastrophic.
"So you go in thinking 'We've done everything, I know how the thing works, I know where I'm going, I know what I'm going to do. Let's get on with it and let it unfold'."
Richard set off on his final run and gathered speed. Then appalled observers saw the open cockpit Vampire suddenly hurtle out of control and crash.
The presenter said: "The car ended up upside down. There was just a roll bar above my head and I was breathing a field.
"Apparently it's true that I told them I needed to film a piece to camera. But I'm buggered if I can remember that.
"It's normal in serious head injuries that you get this initial moment when you think everything is OK. It's like after tripping over on the pavement and getting up like you meant to do it.
"It was like me getting knocked down by a bus and jumping up saying 'I'm fine, everybody!' But very quickly after that, things deteriorate sharply. It was 50/50 what was going to happen. I may have been dead, I may not have woken up.""
Two investigations are under way into the crash but Richard is adamant all safety procedures were followed to the letter.
He said: "I've absolutely no idea what went wrong. One minute I was there and the next I was buried head first, off the track.
THE whole idea had been to experience driving something very unusual. We chatted about the jet car and all I had to do was drive it. It was so easy.
"We wanted to use the afterburners because essentially, if an ordinary car has about 100 horsepower, after you light the afterburners it has 10,000 horsepower.
"It's an amazing amount of power. All I wanted to do was get to the point where I could drive it with the afterburners on, which I did. Apparently there was a load of stuff in the papers about us breaking a land speed record.
"That would be stupid because we'd be putting too much pressure on ourselves to hit a target.
"And in the Top Gear sense it's exciting enough, given that we're all 10-year-olds, just to go 'It's got a jet! How does it feel?' It was my job to explain how it feels. Get me in the car and I'll tell you what it's like.""
Richard is aware that the spotlight is on Top Gear now that the crash is being investigated.
He said: "On Top Gear we live in a world where we have to deal with an element of risk. It's our job to minimise it.
"We're so used to sitting down and deciding how to do things. It doesn't happen without a great deal of work and would never be any other way.
"So in my mind it was less calculable that anything had gone wrong. We spend our lives minimising risk so that's what I couldn't believe. That it had actually gone wrong"
He laughed as he added: "I was actually quite good at driving it. But clearly something went wrong and the day didn't turn out as we planned...to put it mildly!"
For the test, Richard was wearing a set of bright silver Formula One-style flameproof overalls. True to form he had entertained the crew all day darting about as the "Silver Flash".
He said: "I'd laughed about those pants all day. They were the silverest silver you've ever seen. But the point was, I had all the gear, we were all aware of the risks. It's the nature of the job."
Richard describes the crash helmet he wore as the "most spectacular crash helmet you've ever seen". He revealed the manufacturer wants it back to test, saying with a smile: "They told me, that after all it's the fastest test we've ever put it through."
But ultimately, he wants it back as his one souvenir of the day he almost lost his life.
Richard said: "I want it to go in a plinth on the wall in my office. Definitely.
For all I know, it saved my life. We proved that it's worth taking the measures that we take.
"If everybody hadn't been on their toes, if we hadn't had the best possible safety gear, if the crash helmet hadn't been the best, if the helicopter hadn't taken off...
"The very fact that I made it, is testimony to the fact that the precautions we ordinarily take are worth taking. I'm living proof that safety works."
It is hard to imagine the Top Gear ace so recently came so close to death. That bloodshot eye and his gaunt and pale complexion are the only giveaways.
POPULAR Richard, loved by millions of fans who have been praying for his recovery, joked around with his daughters, made faces and laughed over lunch.
And he smiled at the fact that it is only five weeks after he cheated death that he can properly describe what it is like to travel at 288mph in a jet car - and what it is like when it all goes horribly wrong.
Before he headed off for a much-needed nap, he had one final thing on his mind. Richard said: "Do you realise how annoyed I am that I've got no marks on me? Absolutely nothing at all, nothing for the pub.
"There are people who fall off their trikes at the age of four who've got better injuries than me. I've been through hell and I've got nothing to show for it except a chipped tooth! I'm gutted."
c.raymond@mirror.co.uk
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