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Hammond needs to admit to himself he's not Lewis Hamilton and stop driving as though he knows what he's doing at speeds of 200mph+. Challenging mortality is not what it's all about. Face it guy, despite your sharp wit and your staggering paycheck, you don't have the skillset to do this kind of driving. Maybe a handful of people on earth do, and you (and I) are not among them. There is no point in running at high speed in what is a lightly-tested vehicle - unless you have a serious death wish. Club racing, fine . . . go for it. Fast touring, again, fine if you trust the other occupants of "your" road with your life. But wringing out what amounts to a Croatian production prototype boasting a "clean sheet of paper" design with limited racing credentials is lunacy of the first order, well, second if you consider that crash of the Vampire dragster in 2006.
Hammond needs to admit to himself he's not Lewis Hamilton and stop driving as though he knows what he's doing at speeds of 200mph+. Challenging mortality is not what it's all about. Face it guy, despite your sharp wit and your staggering paycheck, you don't have the skillset to do this kind of driving. Maybe a handful of people on earth do, and you (and I) are not among them. There is no point in running at high speed in what is a lightly-tested vehicle - unless you have a serious death wish. Club racing, fine . . . go for it. Fast touring, again, fine if you trust the other occupants of "your" road with your life. But wringing out what amounts to a Croatian production prototype boasting a "clean sheet of paper" design with limited racing credentials is lunacy of the first order, well, second if you consider that crash of the Vampire dragster in 2006.
Dude, a lot of our racing heroes survived numerous wrecks, like Jackie Stewart, Phil Hill, Mario Andretti, they raced in the most lethal of times and survived. Even what Richard Hammond is doing now days is WAY WAY WAY less risky than what F1 drivers were doing in the 60's/70's. Hell I'd say when Hammond rolled this car off the curve(it was a steep enbankment, not a mountain cliff btw) was way less risky than him driving on than damn moped in Saigon. Yes that jet dragster crash was spectacular, and if I ever meet Richard Hammond in a casino, I will bet against him. His luck is just damn sour, it easily could have been either of the other two monkeys involved in either crash. I mean James May ****ing went up in a U2 spy plane and entered space he was so damn high in orbit. Now tell me in how many damn ways that could have gone wrong.
All three of these guys roll the dice a bit when they push the limits on 500+hp capable cars, I seriously think it might have been a mechanical problem with the electric car, I've seen James, Jeremey, and Richard spin out in some seriously expensive metal driving around the Top Gear test track. I have a hard time believing Richard Hammond ran out of talent in that turn, as I think he'd have enough sense not to push this car to its limit on this track. All three of them are what I'd call semi-pro drivers, IE they know how to handle a stupidly fast car, and know when to back off, when they can't safely push that limit in a car. Of course even professional race drivers make mistakes, but seriously I doubt the Hamster would push that car to its limits, especially it being a pre-production prototype, lended to "The Grand Tour" in good faith.
It's been said that ALL men believe themselves to excel at two activities: driving and lovemaking. Unfortunately it's not true; most of us are, to be charitable, just adequate either on the track or in the sack. We may fantasize that because we hold a driver's license that we're somehow among the few gifted drivers on the planet who regularly compete door handle to door handle at 200+ mph, but in fact, alongside a grid of upper-echelon contenders, we're no better than rolling chicanes far back in the pack.
I'll agree that many of our racing heroes died or were grievously injured in on-track accidents, over 500 drivers having been killed in on-track accidents in the US alone. Although many landmark improvements have been made in both racing cars and tracks in the past century, it's still a dangerous sport, not one to be taken lightly by the inexperienced.
It is interesting to note that of the hundreds of celebrities killed on public roads, only twenty two were involved in motorsports, including auto racing and rallying, motorcycle racing, and a few notable engineers and entrepreneurs. Most were athletes or musicians, some were actors or politicians, and a few were involved in careers well outside the norm - particle physicists, inventors, fashion models, olympic athletes, etc. The stats seem to indicate that most professional racing drivers, whatever their reputation at the track, are able to bring similar skills and concentration to public highways . . . but the reverse isn't necessarily true. It's too often the self-delusion that they are experts that gets them killed . . . just like the rest of us.
A cursory review of the relatively short list of motorsport stars killed on the highway tend to die, not as the result of speed, but by alcohol and monumentally poor decisions. In short, professional racing drivers, while they may possess extraordinary driving skills, are about as vulnerable to traffic accidents as the rest of us - too often because they believe themselves to be supermen. It's one thing to be a champion autocrosser, but quite another to compete at Indianapolis.
BTW, please note that James May was a passenger in that U-2, being flown by a highly-skilled instructor/pilot with thousands of hours in type. Although a private pilot himself, May doesn't approach the skill level required to keep a U-2 in the air, or at least not falling out of it by going just a mile or two per hour too slow or too fast.
The guy does what he loves. Certainly I don't want to die, but I would prefer to die doing something I love than in a hospital bed from cancer or something.
Risk is part of life. Clearly they're being as safe as they can be given the inherent risk of what they're doing. Hammond is not an ordinary driver, he's an experienced professional driver. However, there are still risks. That's life.
We all should be as lucky as he is to do what we love doing and make a great living at it.
We all should be as lucky as he is to do what we love doing and make a great living at it.
I'm sure you don't exactly hate driving an LS460 around now, with clients, making money by selling houses. Simply driving an LS, for many people, would be a nice pleasant experience.
I'm sure you don't exactly hate driving an LS460 around now, with clients, making money by selling houses. Simply driving an LS, for many people, would be a nice pleasant experience.
I have a great life, I work hard but I live my life the way I want, do what I want, have a great family. Point is at times I do things that are risky, I ski, I boat, etc. But life's not worth living if you don't do the things you love, even with the risk.
I like what I do, I'm good at it, but if you asked me "is it your life's dream"? No, most people aren't fortunate enough to do something that they love on a personal level for a living. Hammond is, risk or not.
06-14-17, 10:22 AM
