Mark Blundell and Richard Hammond relive near-fatal car crashes
By Ellie Iorizzo, PA Los Angeles Correspondent
Mark Blundell and Richard Hammond have recalled the sounds that trigger them after surviving near-fatal car crashes.
Former British Formula One driver Blundell suffered a break failure while on a track in Rio de Janeiro in 1996, crashing into a wall at 196mph.
Ex-Top Gear host Hammond sustained serious head injuries and was left in a coma for two weeks after he crashed a jet-powered dragster at nearly 320mph in 2006.
“So I was conscious throughout the whole thing,” Blundell told the Who We Are Now With Izzy And Richard Hammond podcast.
“The only thing that really sticks in my mind was the noise because of the impact of a car hitting concrete and that’s the thing that actually like rattled my brain.”
Hammond, who was also conscious during his crash almost two decades ago, said he refuses to fly jet engines because the sound serves as a trigger.
“I fly helicopters but I don’t like flying jet rangers, because the way they start sounds exactly the same way that the jet car started,” he said.
The pair said they both felt their time had come during the crashes.
“When people talk about everything slows down… it didn’t slow down,” Blundell said.
“It was real time and it was me panicking to understand what I could do, I tried to hit my teammate, missed him, because I knew that hitting the concrete at that speed I was going to die.
“I hit the concrete, bent the wheel in half, like all the crazy things you hear about, kids picking up cars because their parents are trapped underneath.
“But actually, it was the split moment of numbers up.”
Hammond said he felt “totally the same”.
“I was completely calm, I’d done everything I could do,” he said.
“I’ve pulled the parachute, I’d steered, braked, it was going upside down, there’s no roof and I thought ‘Oh, checking out now’.
“No panic at that point, panic had gone, I’d done everything.”
Blundell agreed: “Yep numbers up.”
Who We Are Now With Izzy And Richard Hammond is a Global podcast available to listen to on all podcast platforms.
