THSCC Forums

Actually slightly old news, but didn't see a mention of it yet here on the forum...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ammond.xml

Hope he recovers fully.

I was reading about this just the other day and there was talk about how BBC doesn't like Top Gear. Questions about safety (mentioned in the article above). I have to say that when I watch the show (which is great!), I wonder about the apparent lack of safety sometimes. Granted, running 300+ mph in a jet car has inherent risks, but overall, I wonder as the show seems to be very fast and loose at time (i.e. lack of helmets during testing of high performance cars on tracks) with regards to safety.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Somewhat related, but I always wonder why the guys on Sports Car Revolution never wear helmets

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traded the ultimate driving machine for a hatchback.....

Top 10 reasons...

10. Show budget was spent on turbo upgrades. No money left for helmets.
9. Don't use them on a motorcycle, so why use them in a car?
8. Keep forgetting helmet at home when leaving for work.
7. Helmets are for wimps!
6. Nobody can understand what I say when I have a helmet on.
5. Spent lots of money on dental work. Need to show off the teeth.
4. Can't make faces at crew between takes.
3. Can't decide what helmet matches my shoes.
2. Helmets mess up your hair
1. Because they do it that way on "Top Gear"!


Seriously I suspect they do it on all of these shows as you just can't see the "talking head". Its a TV show, so you have to show the onscreen talent. And you just can't do stuff like this...



... if you wear a helmet. And they put on one the "Stig" only to hide his face.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Was Hammond wearing a helmet?

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Ever notice that in almost every case, except for welding, that most, if not all of the participants in virtually all of the 'popular' reality 'car / bike nut' shows NEVER wear any eye protection... CCR, AC (OCC), AHR, BoB, STC, etc... real good lesson for the kids, eh vot?

I think even SCR, and some others are remiss in this regard also, but tis too late to be 100% sure right now.

Sheeeshhh....

Steve

PS: At least they got an excuse on 5th Gear and Top Gear.... they be a bunch ah Crazy Brit blokes fer chirs sake!

It all starts with proper training, early

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

I believe he was. One report I read said that when the car when upside down that the cage dug into the ground, so it sounds like there may have been some type of intrusion into the cockpit.

Here is a photo of the car an you can see that while the cage looks to be decent, it is kind of out in the open. I wouldn't want to be sliding upside down at high speed in that thing. There looks to be nearly zero protection (such as a fighter aircraft style windscreen) to keep something from going into the cockpit. However I am sure it is a rush to be right out in the windstream at that speed.



I also wonder what tires they are using. While they are not putting the power down, they are running at 300 mph. There was an article in Autoweek recently about a new diesel land speed record and if I remember correctly they couldn't go as fast as they wanted (350+ if I remember correctly) due to lack of proper tires. Apparently the land speed record guys are using old tires that someone (Goodyear?) produced years ago for that, but they are no longer produced. The tires on that Jet car look to be more like regular street tires vs. what I usually see as classic land speed record tires. But I have to assume that they know what they are doing and are not going faster than the tires can handle. However I would not be suprised to found out that the car crashed due to a blown tire.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Gloves.... where's the gloves?

Oh yeah...... and a proper face mask?

Jes a thought..... ;)

Steve

They just finished airing a comeback episode for Hammond and it was pretty great. The front right tire blew out at 288 mph and the car veared off into the grass. Wild...

They didn't really specify what his injuries were, but I'm really surpised he's back to normal (or at least didn't sustain massive head/neck injuries) considering how little protection the cage offered.

Do anyone else catch it?

That was last season ...season nine I think. Thats how long we have to wait for the rebroadcast stateside. On BBC, Sunday was the start of season ten. But yes I was glad for his family on his recovery. I have mixed feelings about Top Gear's antics at times, but its pretty darn entertaining most of the time.

The DVR has a conflict with the live Cowboys asswhipping so I'll catch it when it repeats.

edit: I hate [darn] Dallas.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.