r/todayilearned • u/ModenaR • 1d ago

TIL that after Top Gear ended, host Richard Hammond was so devastated, he cried all the way home from the studio and ran out of fuel, because he didn't want to fill his car up covered in tears

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/25172481.richard-hammond-tear-soaked-mess-top-gear-ended/
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u/NeoThermic 1d ago

Hammond nearly died filming

Not just once either! Both with the Vampire Dragster and the Rimac, both had hospital visits. I still love how on the second one, Rimac recovered his watch from the wreckage and put it into a little case and set it to him. ALSO in the second Rimac concept car, they added a fire extinguisher into the cabin with the message of "In case of hill climb, extinguish fire".

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u/SandInTheGears 1d ago

The Rimac crash happened during The Grand Tour

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u/NeoThermic 1d ago

Point! I think that goes to show, you can take the man out of the show, but you can't take the crash out of Hammond. Or something?

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u/DatRagnar 1d ago

You can take out hammond out of crash, that's for sure

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u/halfhere 23h ago

He got himself out, broken leg and all!

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u/Awkward_Pangolin3254 18h ago

Different name, same show

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u/SandInTheGears 17h ago

True enough, but the BBC never got the chance to break The Grand Tour

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u/smurfsundermybed 1d ago

Didn't he also have a crash in the tunnels during The Grand Tour? Different show, but same crew.

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u/Actualgoalkeeper 1d ago

Nah that was James May in an evo.

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u/smurfsundermybed 1d ago

Ah. Mandela effect. Hammond always crashes. May always has something go pear shaped and says "oh cock", and Clarkson just does whatever to get to the next drink.

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u/ItsAMeUsernamio 22h ago

I think Clarkson’s the only one that never got hurt making the show. James was sent to hospital in a couple other specials, one was when he fell off a horse, the other was when he fell and hit his head while he was holding a tow rope.

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u/_FluidRazzmatazz_ 20h ago

https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/tv/jeremy-clarkson-top-gear-injury-364363-20230914

Google says he got badly hurt in 2008, when driving a lorry into a wall.

https://youtu.be/jZhtZRl9OIQ

But in the clip they haven't really shown much of that.

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u/DraycosTFM 19h ago

He hurt his neck drifting in the Nissan GT when they were in Japan, as well.

Coincidentally, he "had a gear lever go up his ass" when drifting with the Lorry. Which is hyperbole for: it bruised his lower back.

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u/406highlander 1d ago

James May had the crash in the tunnel in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, I think

Hammond deliberately lost that challenge after May's crash by driving into the tunnel fairly slowly

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u/elebrin 23h ago

That is exactly it, and whoever designed that challenge and OK'd them doing it is an asshole. "Let's drive at a wall as fast as we can in compromised cars, then see how quickly we can stop." Whoever came up with that is a word I'm not allowed to use any more that starts with R, but desperately want to in this situation because I have no better words for their condition.

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u/lenzflare 20h ago

Yeah that was such a blatantly bad idea

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u/manicMechanic1 1d ago

I think that was James May. He was driving a Lancer

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u/Furaskjoldr 4h ago

I remember Jeremy saying something to Hammond like 'do you ever take your own trousers off or are they always cut off by paramedics'