So - was the high-speed crash Richard Hammonds fault?

Well, the owner of the car seems to think so,but then he would wouldnt he? I dont think, under the circumstances (the fact that it was a miracle he didnt die),it really matters anymore,at least he's alive,and i think the owner of the car should be thinking the same thing,instead of worrying whos fault it was.

No. It was stated quite clearly last night that the tyre blew out 0.4 seconds before the car spun off the track. So Hammond touched the brakes...big deal. He was reacting to unusual circumstances, with just a moment to decide.

He is a skilled driver and reacted in a way that he would in a normal car. It was a failure of the car's safety system. If he wasn't supposed to touch the brakes while the jet was at full power, there should have been a system to prevent that. How sharply did those brakes kick in? Was it explained that even in the event of a tyre blow out, you can't touch the brakes?

Why did the tyre blow out? Were they checked properly between runs? It seems a bit too easy to dish out blame.

You have to put yourself in that seat. You have a split second to decide. I know that if I touch the brakes it's bad. If I brake what harm can it do? I'm going to crash anyway. Sod it, I'm braking a bit. I'll die slower.

I wonder if the Vampire's owner is after some money?

How will we know if he applied the brakes or not when the tyre blew. If he did then he was wrong to do that, because that is not the correct procedure when dealing with a tyre blow out. It would mean that he couldn't control the car then, hence off the track and onto the grass. Anyway I am glad he is okay now. He is a very lucky man.

Who checked the tyre conditions beforehand anyway? I'm sure they would have been new or new-ish tyres, but they should always be double checked for wear and first signs of bulging on the inside and outside walls.

if it was a tyre blow out as seen on the news reports this morning. How can that be richards fault?

clearly it was not his fault. either the tyre was defective or there was something on the track that caused the tyre to blow.

so was the track checked between each run for debris?

if not why not?

the accident happened on his third run. so why did they need to do three runs?

if it was for editing and technical reasons clearly that is the fault of the producer and director. with a dangerous car such as that one, it would have made more sense to set several cameras up with remote zoom, etc to do the job of recording the stunt (any road going car and i'd say test drive).

to sum up no it was not hammonds fault unless he did something to the tyre that blew.

in my opinion the tyre may have picked up debris from the track between runs and as the tyre heated that bit of debris worked it's way into the tyre deeper until the tyre blew.

but that is just my opinion. I'm no driver nor am i a mechanic. it just seems to me to be the most logical cause of the accident.

What I want to know is why did the owner of the car let an unqualified person, (by unqualified I mean that the car has a jet engine, aren't they usually "driven" by experienced pilots?), drive his ridiculously expensive piece of machinery and then winge when it all went pear shaped?

I like Hammond, good on him for being such a good sport on Top Gear last night!

I think it's a bit unfair of the owner to say that he shouldn't have put his foot on the brakes when the tyre blew because he was told not to in the briefing - it would have been a split second instinctive action, if he was in any other car and had a blowout his first reaction would be to brake to try to gain control of the car. He was travelling at close to 300mph and how many of us could say that if we had a tyre blowout at that speed we wouldn't panic and forget everything that we were told to do?

No way could it have been Richards fualt.

It is clear it was the tyre blowing that was the problem.

If there is any fualt, its the fualt of those who should have been checking the tyres and seeing if there was dangerous wear. That runway is very abrasive and the tyres would take a lot of punishment going that fast on that tarmac.

If he was told NOT to brake when in full flight then yes it was his fault. I was just glad the bloke survived and is back on Top Gear where he belongs! Long live the Hamster!

It was not his fault the tyre blew out, I think it was rather cleaver the way he stopped the car with his head, a work of genius.

Haha, when did this happen? I am in Toronto, but I subscribe to BBC Canada, and they have Top Gear....

It seems like it would be Richard Hammonds fault though...lol

Oh, I am just checking it now on the news...that's sad news, I like him in Top Gear, I hope his condition improves....