Richard Hammond tells Chris Moyles he thought James May was dead!

During an interview on this morning’s The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X, Richard Hammond told Chris Moyles he thought James May was dead after his crash whilst filming The Grand Tour special ‘A Scandi Flick’.

Speaking about James May’s crash, Richard Hammond said “I don’t know what came over him, genuinely, I don’t.. He really wanted to win. But he came through. We were genuinely concerned and I thought my mate was dead. We ran up that tunnel thinking… and then saw the car and thought ‘Oh God!’”

Here’s how the conversation went:

RH: I don’t know why we thought it was a good idea. The challenge was to drive down a dark tunnel, the lights came on as you passed them, and it did end in – very much as James discovered – end [in] like a wall. And it was to see which of us could get to the highest top speed, and then break, and then – key bit – stop before hitting the wall. Jeremy went first, quite brisk, wahey! I was waiting to go last, James went second, very brisk departure and didn’t stop.

CM: Just missed his breakpoint?

RH: Oh, yeah! Hit the wall. I mean, it’s, yeah…

CM: Now, how do I word this…

RH: Bluntly? Cruelly? Crudely?

CM: It’s a TV show, right?

RH: Yes.

CM: So there are cameras on things and obviously for something like that – and you see it, there obviously medical people there to jump in just in case and normally you wouldn’t see stuff like that. So the stuff that goes on telly, like telly stuff that we wouldn’t always see. But on something like that that you’re filming, if he hadn’t have turned the wheel, he’s going headfirst straight into that wall?

RH: That would have been the case I suspect. Yes.

And later on..

RH: I mean, you’ll see in the show, we were concerned, you know, because it was a big old crash.

CM: Well because there was shot of him getting out of the car, he all but leaps out the car. But you can see he’s not with it.

RH: I think he was a little surprised!

CM: He’s very much in shock, I think, from what I’ve seen of it.

RH: Yes.

CM: And then that point do you go ‘I don’t think I need to do my [drive]’

RH: I very much did yeah! I thought ‘well, I think we’ve covered that!’ Plus I don’t want to damage my car. So I went for a different approach. I don’t know what came over him. Genuinely, I don’t.

CM: But what does he say about it? Did he go ‘I forgot to break, I didn’t see, I didn’t realise…’

RH: He really wanted to win. But he came through. We were genuinely concerned and I thought my mate was dead. We ran up that tunnel thinking [makes concerned face] and then saw the car and thought ‘Oh God!’

CM: And then when you realise that he’s fine, do you Jeremy go ‘high five! we’re gonna at least get another two year deal!’

RH: [laughs] Yeah. And then we just zip off, left him in the hospital and carried on.

Tune into The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X, weekdays from 6:30am – 10am and Saturdays 8am – 11am.