Richard Hammond reveals he has now watched the York crash that nearly killed him
Richard Hammond has said he is now able to watch the footage of the 2006 York crash that left him with serious injuries.
The presenter, 52, crashed a jet-powered dragster called Vampire at nearly 320mph while filming for Top Gear at the former RAF Elvington airbase near York.
Although the incident left him with serious head injuries, he managed to make a full recovery and returned to the show in early 2007.
Hammond recently got back in the reconstructed car as part of a video for the DriveTribe YouTube channel, which he co-founded with Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain today (Thursday), he addressed whether he was now able to watch footage of his crash or if he still found it difficult.
He said: “I think I did for a while but not so much now. Not really. I have now – but not a lot, no. It was quite bumpy.”
Back in the car
Hammond described getting back in the car as “genuinely weird”.
He added: “It came about (because) I had the guys from DriveTribe over at my place and we were trying to plan a look ahead to the year.
“And one of them said, ‘You do know that car has now been restored and rebuilt just down the road from where you live?’ And it seemed too good an opportunity, so we rang them.
“It was all a bit of fun until the moment came – and you can see it on the little video on the platform – and I got in and I did go a bit quiet. It was, ‘Oh, hang on’.
“It’s weird. I remember the last time I got into this, but I don’t remember the last time I got out of it. So technically I must still be in it. It was a strange feeling.”
Hammond admitted he had not told his wife, newspaper columnist Mindy, before getting back in the car and “just snuck off and filmed it”.