September 21, 2006
By Matthew Jones

London, England - Accident investigators were examining film footage on Friday of Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond's crash in a jet-powered car as he accelerated towards 480km/h.

The BBC broadcaster suffered what his doctors have called a significant brain injury as a result of the September 20 accident at an airfield near York.

The 36-year-old presenter was taken by air ambulance to the specialist neurological unit at Leeds General Infirmary where doctors say they are concerned about his condition but also "reasonably optimistic that he will make a good recovery."

The accident is being jointly investigated by police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

An HSE spokesman said its officers were focusing on the events that led up to the incident: the planning for the high-speed dragster dash, the risk assessment undertaken and whether Hammond received any special training.

He said: "We will look at the film footage, but at the moment we are concentrating on what activity took place prior to the accident."

Police assessed the state of the track at the former RAF base and impounded the Vampire jet car for forensic examination. Media reports have spoken of a burst tyre having caused the crash.

Hammond was filming at Elvington airfield in what media reports said was an attempt to break the British land speed record of 480.5km/h, when the accident happened.

However, a spokesman for the car's sponsor said that although timers were in place to record Hammond's speed, it would not have qualified as an official record attempt.

The BBC could face a possible prosecution if it is found proper safety precautions were not taken, but whatever the outcome, the Top Gear motoring programme in its current format could be axed if criticism about the show's trademark daredevil stunts mounts.

The series attracts more than six million viewers in Britain as well as millions more abroad but was criticised by a group of MPs in 1999 for being "obsessed with acceleration". - Reuters