Richard Hammond reflects on "Top Gear" and "Grand Tour" controversies
Richard Hammond recounts several notorious incidents from his television career with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, emphasizing the real danger, unintended consequences, and lasting impressions these events created.
The Alabama incident (80 years ago, Top Gear) involved painting provocative slogans on cars—Transam, Cadillac, pickup—expecting lighthearted responses. Instead, the slogans ('man-in-law rules', 'country and western is rubbish', 'Hillary president') led to hostility. Locals confronted the presenters at a petrol station, hurled stones and rocks, and pursued them with pickups and shotguns. The team barely escaped, monitored via CB radios as pursuers coordinated ahead, fleeing across Alabama to Louisiana. Hammond clarifies the crew did not anticipate such intense aggression: "We just thought we were being cheeky."
The Rimac crash, during early electric-car days, saw Hammond lose control on a Swiss hill climb, plummeting hundreds of feet, flipping and destroying the car, suffering a broken leg. The Rimac owner, Mate Rimac (now running Bugatti), was first concerned, then reportedly deemed it "the best publicity we could have had," even jokingly nominating Hammond as their "crash test dummy." Hammond notes there were seven Rimac cars at the time, costing millions, reduced to six after his accident. He admits to other untelevised crashes (Jaguar at Laguna, Corvette in Surrey).
The Argentina 2014 episode, filmed twelve years ago, turned perilous due to Jeremy Clarkson’s Porsche’s number plate ('FKL' and '82', thought to reference Falklands War). Although a coincidence, it incited mobs—mobilized, Hammond claims, by local powers exploiting an election year and union influence. Eighty crew members fled; Hammond, Clarkson, and May escaped by air while others drove out, facing roadblocks and fires. Hammond describes the aftermath as "genuinely harrowing" for those stranded. It eventually calmed, but crew safety was a major concern.
On intra-team dynamics, Hammond jokes none of the three were particularly difficult, though the crew nicknamed them 'pandas'—rarely active but causing commotion when visible. He notes the Morris Marina fan club and Ferrari were most upset; particularly Ferrari, due to repeated criticism.
Surprise at their luck: Hammond expresses amazement no bystanders were ever injured during their elaborate cross-country challenges, despite risks in African villages and other locations. He concludes, "Some people were upset. Some people were offended… but by and large, nobody was physically hurt, apart from me."
Overall, Hammond characterizes their adventures as risky and contentious, but ultimately a "joy and an honor," grateful no one was seriously harmed.