Earlier this year, Richard Hammond had one more of his failed rendez-vous with death, this time while driving a Rimac Concept_One up a hill in Switzerland.
The ex-Top Gear presenter, now hosting The Grand Tour together with the old gang of three made up of Jeremy Clarkson and James May, not only managed to make it out alive but also made a speedy recovery. Did it do anything to curb his love for cars? Not in the slightest. Will it shave a few miles per hour off the maximum speed he feels comfortable at? Who knows? Maybe, but the Captain Slow title is still safe withing James May's tight grasp.
For those hearing the Rimac Concept_One name for the first time, maybe this will make it easier to understand what happened to Hammond: the Croatian electric hypercar has some of the most impressive stats on a road-legal vehicle right now with 1,200 hp and 1,600 Nm (1,180 lb-ft) making the 0-60 mph sprint fly by in under two seconds (some say "way under").
If the series' first-ever episode included the most expensive scene in a TV show ever, the second season needed a good opening as well. Considering all the publicity Hammond's stunt received in the summer and since, it was really an easy choice: show the "Hamster" driving the electric hypercar up the now infamous hillclimb.
In case you missed the episode - which premiered last Friday on December 8 - here are Clarkson and May giving Hammond a short but very condensed pep talk ahead of his run. In a nutshell, the idea is this: you're driving the most powerful car here, so you'd have to be crap not to come out on top.
As if that wasn't enough pressure, the two also insisted on how the hopes of millions of Croatians - and other East Europeans as well - rest on Hammond's shoulders, because there's nothing to help you during a race than a jittering leg and sweaty palms. Oh, with friends like these...
It should be noted that Clarkson and May do not make themselves emotionally guilty of causing Hammond's crash since this wasn't when it happened. In fact, as Richard himself put it, he lost control of the Concept_One because he could not get it to drift. Yup, that makes sense.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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