Richard Hammond: My 320mph Crash Changed My Life In Unexpected Ways

I was aware something had happened uh I all I recall is a sense of oh no because just decelerating upside down I'm using my head as a Break um it it isn't good for you there was genuinely it was answering a question that kind of at the back of my mind I'd always wondered and I think a lot of us do always [Music] you talked about a crash earlier while you were filming Top Gear yeah not a very good driver me 36 years old 2006 I believe yeah um take me to that day well um we'd had a discussion in the office and I have told this story before and then some people you might be bored of it sorry um Andy Willman the editor had said he got this chance for this car to be driven and I'd gone into the office saying look I just want to go really fast what's the fastest we can go it's that dumb an idea they came up with this car and I went to drive and I turned up on the day um did numerous runs in the thing uh it was pretty basic and crude really quite fast especially when you hit the afterburner um jet propelled dragster I didn't have a speedo in the car because I knew I'd be chasing speeds and that would be dangerous so there was no Speedo I didn't know how fast I was going until after the event um you stopped it to stop it from high speed and to pull parachute chord to stop the parachute came out and stopped it uh and I'd done all the days runs and the director came over and said Rich we've got I got permission for one last run oh brilliant right um we were happy with how it's gone but let's get one more bag of shots and um I was aware something had happened uh I all I recall is a sense of oh no um foot going towards a break and realized I was doing three I didn't know but I was doing 300 just shy 320 miles an hour so breaks I don't do anything um the car what had happened is the front tire delaminated and blown the car had skewed right and was going off the road but it was still doing 290 miles an hour as it started to roll I'd pull the lever for the parachute which is all that mattered to me when I finally you know weeks or months later became aware of what was happening I needed to know had I done that because I looked at my children and thought if I've nearly denied you a father for the rest of your lives because I'm an idiot and I did the wrong thing I wouldn't forgive myself but I did do the right thing so it just it was never going to stop it uh so then it went over and it rolled and as it went over I knew you know there's no roof just a roll bar I didn't know how fast I was going but I knew it was fast um and I just thought well I'm gonna die now but it wasn't again I'm on record as saying this and I don't want to go on about it because I get self-conscious I don't want anybody to think oh stop going on about that and I'm not but if if you are interested I found it interesting that there was no fear associated with that there was no don't know there was genuinely it was answering a question that kind of at the back of my mind had always wondered and I think a lot of us do all of us when am I gonna die how why and it was like oh it's now that's the answer that's the next thing to do that was it and then I wasn't conscious again until then I was conscious apparently when they got to the car but I have no recollection because the damage was done brain decelerative sloshing forwards her frontal lobe bleed because just decelerating upside down using my head as a Break um it it isn't good for you have you heard the story about what was going on in your your family at that time well while you were unconscious in hospital who called Mindy your wife yeah Mindy was called um she was on the road she was called by uh Wellman they all spoke it was hard my daughters were Young and for them to grasp it was pretty pretty difficult um yeah it's disruptive it's horrible and it's hard in my memories are all over the place anyway because um I had very bad um post-traumatic amnesia for weeks like a one minute memory which many my wife always says I was the nicest I've ever been I was lovely if I had I was perfectly happy which does make me and has made me think often since that you know I've got a friend who's yeah we all have friends perhaps or ourselves whose parents are through whatever degenerative form of of illness losing memories um and I always say to him is she happy yeah fine if I go to see them yes you'll come into the pub to see me three or four times and is equally happy each time that's all right doesn't matter um and I was perfectly happy reading the same newspaper every single day several times a day I just it was by my bed I just pick it up and oh brilliant that's it then I'll read it put it down minute later gone until Mindy took it away because she was sick of seeing me read it but it was it was more distressing and really the message there is yeah as if it's if somebody is in that confused state of whatever variety and for whatever reason if they're happy they're happy then you're all you've got to do is cope to support them in their happiness it doesn't matter if they can't remember who you are what anything is if they're happy they're happy and that's that and I was when you're in that coma I I watched the video you produced about your um incredibly powerful video about your morphine dream and uh the Crooked Tree on the hill is that is that true that there was a morphine you you yeah I was in a as we held in coma because brain was expanding post-crash so it was they were holding me in coma but it was looking very very bad and um they had called Mindy in um and they said I think we we're losing him that he could do she said is there anything I can do not really try anything can I shout yeah so she roared and shared it at me don't you dared I'm really quite sweary and cross why did you do that because she was crossed she didn't want me to die I think there's lots of people who've done that I think I'd do that but when all else is tried and failed if somebody is lying there yeah last resort don't you dare because you know she wanted me around I think we'd all do that it's not just a movie trope you can you could you are calling to somebody and I think we know in our heart of hearts we do have a great deal of Independence in terms of what happens to us our mind is a powerful thing um mind and body are one a chiropractic friend of mine chiropractor you'll kill me with the osteopath a friend of mine Steve sorry Steve um obviously about very well read man and we were talking about mind and body as one um and about you know bringing I was I said something about bringing mind and body to work together and all together and he said well yeah well it is all one because he's never been apart oh yeah your body and mind have never existed separately they've only ever existed as one and one needs the other and compliments one is the other which is why if in that coma State and it's only an altered state of consciousness I'm Not Dead um I picked up on the emotion from Mindy the anger and thought I said the dream the dream was honestly all going to be in trouble now it's not funny anymore it's a very distinctive flavor of you know when you're feeling you're being a bit naughty and you're being cheeky you're getting and then you're like oh no I really am in trouble and that's when she was really roaring and chatting and yes her mind can do an awful lot with our bodies there's enough evidence of that your mind took you to your favorite place which gives me immense comfort because it will do that eventually anyway I know that's where I'll go and given that at the moment of dying of the body shutting down of it's stopping to do all the things that it does you're no longer tired by all those by time not biological rhythms lunar rhythms none of those matter you'll know beholden to them anymore which is a kind of Eternity so if my last thought I'd been walking around that tree in I was up there uh two weeks ago District yeah went to the same tree um yeah my mind takes me around there and that thought Echoes form of Eternity as far as I'm concerned and really the universe only exists as far as I'm concerned or you're concerned it's only your perception of it and if that last moment is no longer constrained by worrying about Heartbeats or cycling of the seasons it's kind of an eternity isn't it and I wouldn't mind hanging around by that tree forever what was happening in that dream so you were you were in a coma and you have the sort of a morphine induced dream while you're walking up a hill yeah I was walking up the hill towards a tree and I was growing crazily conscious that oh I'm going to be in trouble for carrying on no no I'm going to carry I just want to press on and then as I reach the tree it was a very clear oh no I really am going to be in trouble I better go back and that's the point um I just related that story as a unit to Minden it was very clear when I was brought out a coma shortly after and that's when it happened I mean it could be a story I don't forget your brain fills in things after the fact a sense of recollection is all you need for something to be in the past it doesn't have to actually be in the past but I've I've retained I've I've gained immense comfort from it I find it very comforting and warming to think so I'll continue to think it if you love the diver CEO brand and you watch this Channel please do me a huge favor become part of the 15 of the viewers on this channel that have hit the Subscribe button it helps us tremendously and the bigger the channel gets the bigger the guests [Music] thank you

Channel: The Diary Of A CEO Clips

Views: 116,254

Keywords: the diary of a ceo, podcast, the diary of a ceo podcast, life lessons, ceo, Steven Bartlett, Steve Bartlett, doac, diary of a ceo, diary of a ceo clips, Steve Bartlett Podcast, richard hammond, jeremy clarkson, james may, the grand tour, top gear, grand tour, richard hammond crash, amazon prime, top gear challenge, the grand tour richard hammond, top gear best moment, top gear best moments, richard, hammond, richard hammond crash jet car, richard hammond crash top gear

Id: 4DPX6wgZpt8

Length: 10min 41sec (641 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 13 2023