WTF : Car owner blames Hammond for crash
 

"Jet car owner blames Richard Hammond for the high-speed crash

The owner of the jet car involved in a high-speed crash which nearly claimed the life of Richard Hammond appears on Monday to lay the blame for the accident on the Top Gear presenter.

Dramatic footage of the crash clearly showed the car's right front tyre shredded following a blowout as Hammond tore down an airfield runway at speeds approaching 300mph.

He appeared to lose control of the dragster, which veered off the runway on to the grass before overturning.

But on Sunday's Sun newspaper, Colin Fallows suggested Hammond was to some extent to blame for the crash by "failing to adhere to the briefing".

He said: "Mr Hammond had a puncture and carried on with the tyre deflated", adding that Hammond "stood on the brakes" after the blowout.

He said: "Once these cars are in motion you don't touch the brakes. You stay on the prescribed line and should always be aware of the unexpected.

"By failing to adhere to the briefing, what would have been a controllable incident ended in a major accident."

The BBC and Mr Fallows' firm, Primetime Landspeed Engineering, may be prosecuted for failing to take due care, the paper said.

On Sunday night dramatic footage of the 288mph crash was shown for the first time.

Aired on Top Gear's first show of the new series, it revealed the 36-year-old's miraculous escape when he crashed while filming a stunt for the programme in September."

Well this should be interesting

Hum.. strange... why only now the guy says this???

^Obvious. He may be prosecuted and needs to shift blame. Furthermore, the BBC might sue him. He's also probably going to sue the BBC.

Yep exactly, trying to "pass the buck" sadly for him though, the video footage proves otherwise IMO.

OK so maybe he should have opened the chutes instead of hitting the brakes, but in the split second it all happened that would have been everyones natural reaction.

In anycase I cant see what could have been done to make it anything other than a very serious accident, the fact he is still alive and in good health would surely mean it was a good outcome for such an horrific "accident" and in that case perhaps he did do the right thing after all.

i cant believe this :| :?

Indeed. Hammond has recovered. In any case, there was no reason for him to say this in public. If there is to be investigation into the possibility of prosecution, the facts would come out. If it was Hammond's fault, well, so be it. No need to try and tarnish people unnecessarily.

Yup, like Hammond said it was 0.4 seconds between the tyre shredding and the accident.

LOL Jeremy already said this at the end of the show, why didn't you notice the tire being ruptured while driving :P Anyway, let's just wait and see what happens next!

If setting a landspeed record is 99.99% safe anyone would have a go. Unfortunately chances that it goes wrong are big. I'm sure everybody tried their best it making this succeed, but unfortunately the project failed. Agreements for this case should have been madeon beforehand.

If one party needs to be blamed, I'd say it's the tyre company, but I doubt they guaranteed that the tyre would last at that speed. So IMO, no need to blame anyone.

Sucks how legal issues always have to come into play... I hope everything works out so no legal action is necessary.. Everyone should just be glad he's still alive.

what a fucking sue happy idiot. i am not totally sure on how the legal system works in England, but i really don't think that will even get off the ground in the court room.

Yeah sure, what a moron. Everybody can clearly see it wasn't his fault. And if it was Hammonds fault then he wasn't instructed well and that comes down to the owner... :roll:

I'll be the odd one out here - in a way, Hamster was driving, and as the driver it kinda is always your fault. :(

Then again I am one of the folks who thinks he shouldn't have done the run to begin with - it was a huge risk to take.

^ true

just like putting him in the car with all that electricity running through it, seeing if the car dose better in below freezing conidiotns or humans ... :roll:

this one is the worst imo .... what kind of record were they gonna make anyway ... they wanted to beat the thrust ssc or what ? .. :roll:

^ I completely agree on the second part, usually drag races are held on straight, special drag racetracks. The airfield consisted of patched asphalt, not the smooth asphalt you find on a track..

Well I didn't think that other test was really dangerous. I mean, they could pull Hammond out anytime at the test, not during the drag race..

And they wanted to break the record for the highest British landspeed ever reached.. But as JC said, it wasn't even official, they needed to do the run again in the opposite direction, and then divide that by 2. Kinda useless in the first place IMO :(

The clip of the crash has been getting shown more in the public eye as of late (even on network news over here)so this guy is doing all he can to cover his ass.

the best thing is that he is still alive whatever else they are doing doesn't mater anymore

I personally dont care whos fault it was in the eye of the law and such. There should be no law suit over something like this. The tire on the vehicle failed, and there was nothing that Hammond could have done at 288mph to prevent the car from veering off to the side. To me all that matters is that Hammond is a-OK and no one is dead.

So why he did not see the footage before! As the owner, he would have the accesses to see that and analysis it with the police or the authorities.... Why now!

And he could have had blamed him or TopGear long time back....

Maybe it is somehow kinda publicity trick that topgear is pulling, good or bad publicity is always Very Good.

Can't wait to see the 2nd episode :D :D :D

Yeah, that may be the case. But that's going to come out in the investigation, if there is to be one. If there isn't, then there's less reason to slag off in the media.

I agree, to an extent. Hammond was in control of the car and he lost it. I still maintain that driving these sorts of things isn't for rookies.
Either way, he's alive and well, what more could you ask for?

However, if this guys gear isn't up to snuff and he knew it, he put a life at risk and should be punished for it.

I agree that he shouldnt have done it. It would have been fine for everyone to watch the car with its normal driver IMO.

Its kinda shitty to place the blame on Hammond on this point. The owner knew that Hammond wasnt an experienced rocket car pilot and he let him do it anyway. Hitting the brakes is a normal reaction I am sure all of us would have done. Pulling the parachute is something only frequent drivers of cars like these would have done. Its not Hammonds fault the tire blew, someone on the owners crew should have checked it, even if they did, sometimes shit happens.

I think, like others have said, he is just trying to cover his own ass. Perhaps a little too late though.

Looking at the video and how fast the car shot off the road, there wasnt anything anyone could have done about it. Even if he did get the chute out, the car would have been in the grass at that point and would have still rolled. At 300mph shit happens really really fast.

ppppppppsh ... I could have held it :)

But really, 288 mph, what are you really going to do? X2 the shifting of blame too the BBC, what bulls**t. At least hammond got out ok, and Clarkson's generous offer to drive all the fast cars shows how well the BBC is cleaning up :P :fist: