ADM
September 22nd, 2006, 12:37 PM
LONDON: Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond is facing a crucial 24-hour fight for survival as the full horror of his 300-mph crash was revealed.
He suffered significant brain injury in the high-speed crash in a jet-powered car while filming for the programme.
"He has suffered a significant brain injury," a hospital spokesman said.
"It is still giving cause for concern as it is still early after the injury. However, we are reasonably optimistic that he will make a good recovery."
The 36-year-old presenter was taken by air ambulance to the specialist neurological unit at Leeds General Infirmary after the accident.
Earlier the hospital had said Hammond was in a serious but stable condition after some improvement overnight.
The presenter had been filming at a former Royal Air Force base near York, in what media reports said was an attempt to break the British land speed record of 300.3mph, when the accident happened on Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesman for the car's sponsor, Thule, said that although timers were in place to record Hammond's speed, it would not have qualified as an official record attempt.
Health and Safety Executive officials were on site investigating possible causes of the crash. Co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May have both visited their colleague in hospital.
"Obviously at this time both he and his family are the most important concerns we have," they said in a statement. "It must be devastating for his wife Mindy and his two utterly adorable children.
Both James and I are looking forward to getting our hamster back."
Hammond is affectionately known as "The Hamster" by his legion of fans and is the butt of good-natured ribbing about his diminutive height by Clarkson and May. He had to be cut from the wreckage of the vehicle which had veered off the track and rolled over, one of the rescuers said.
"We were down there with Top Gear who were filming him trying to break the British land speed record," Dave Ogden, one of those involved in the rescue operation, said.
Hammond had been able to talk to but was in distress, he added. The Top Gear show, which tests and reviews cars, enjoys cult status and is broadcast to millions of people worldwide on BBC World.
I hope he gets well soon and we see him back on the show again, so his daughters can have their daddy back.
He suffered significant brain injury in the high-speed crash in a jet-powered car while filming for the programme.
"He has suffered a significant brain injury," a hospital spokesman said.
"It is still giving cause for concern as it is still early after the injury. However, we are reasonably optimistic that he will make a good recovery."
The 36-year-old presenter was taken by air ambulance to the specialist neurological unit at Leeds General Infirmary after the accident.
Earlier the hospital had said Hammond was in a serious but stable condition after some improvement overnight.
The presenter had been filming at a former Royal Air Force base near York, in what media reports said was an attempt to break the British land speed record of 300.3mph, when the accident happened on Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesman for the car's sponsor, Thule, said that although timers were in place to record Hammond's speed, it would not have qualified as an official record attempt.
Health and Safety Executive officials were on site investigating possible causes of the crash. Co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May have both visited their colleague in hospital.
"Obviously at this time both he and his family are the most important concerns we have," they said in a statement. "It must be devastating for his wife Mindy and his two utterly adorable children.
Both James and I are looking forward to getting our hamster back."
Hammond is affectionately known as "The Hamster" by his legion of fans and is the butt of good-natured ribbing about his diminutive height by Clarkson and May. He had to be cut from the wreckage of the vehicle which had veered off the track and rolled over, one of the rescuers said.
"We were down there with Top Gear who were filming him trying to break the British land speed record," Dave Ogden, one of those involved in the rescue operation, said.
Hammond had been able to talk to but was in distress, he added. The Top Gear show, which tests and reviews cars, enjoys cult status and is broadcast to millions of people worldwide on BBC World.
I hope he gets well soon and we see him back on the show again, so his daughters can have their daddy back.