Clarkson Roasts Hammond For Fiery Rimac Crash

As soon as we knew Richard Hammond was - fractured knee aside - OK following his high-profile Rimac Concept One crash in Switzerland, it seemed almost certain his co-stars were going to get some mileage out of the incident. And sure enough, Jeremy Clarkson has used his latest Sunday Times column to give his Grand Tour cohort a pretty savage roasting.

He notes that “somehow he [Hammond] ended up on his head and then in a coma for a few weeks” after being “asked to drive a car down a runway” - alluding to his Vampire jet dragster crash in 2006, before adding, “he has proved he can’t drive round corners either. All he had to do was drive a small electric car up a Swiss hill….on a left-hand bend after the finish line, he lost control, rolled down a bank and ended up in a hospital. Again.”

Clarkson went on to say he’s “struggling to think of any racetrack in the world that Hammond hasn’t crashed on at some point,” before referencing previous incidents involving a Noble M600 at Imola, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS at Virginia International Raceway and a Jaguar F-Type at Mugello. Oh, and the trio’s Britcar 24 Hour excursion, which saw Hammond hit a particularly expensive Mosler at night.

“Maybe it’s because he can’t see over the steering wheel. Who knows?” He concludes. Savage.

Clarkson, Hammond and May will return to our screens for The Grand Tour’s second series in October, and we’ll be very surprised if the episode featuring the ill-fated hill climb run isn’t released first. It should be an interesting watch, and not just because of the crash - judging by the rest of Clarkson’s column, the long-time EV skeptic sounds pretty taken with the Rimac.

Roll on October…

Source: The Sunday Times