YAA pilots show their feelings
As Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond continues to recover, one of the two initiators of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) charity appeal, set up in the wake of Richard's horrendous 300mph crash, visited the YAA HQ yesterday to find out more about their work (see pic). We'll be bringing you a report from PHer Tallbloke (Roger Tattersall) later.
It was the YAA of course took just 12 minutes to whisk Richard from Elvington airfield to the Leeds General Infirmary, where he's now on a general ward; that swift transit helped to save his life. We hear from the hospital that Richard "continues to make good progress".
Meanwhile, the amount donated to the YAA appeal in response to the accident continues to climb. At the time of writing, it was well over £180,000, with interest still being given by mainstream media -- including the Sun newspaper.
So intense has the interest been that the PistonHeads forum discussion on this topic has become the biggest in the seven-year history of the site -- over a period of just five days.
There's been some discussion too about whether Richard was right to do what he did. Explaining the process, Tiff Needell, racing driver and ex-Top Gear presenter said that Richard would have been doing what he wanted to do.
Putting himself in Richard's position, he said: "I always feel like I'm going on board a car that the viewers will never get a chance to drive. And I'm merely giving them the feeling of what it's like to do these things. I think that's great television.
"Is the Tour De France a bad example to cyclists? Is throwing a javelin encouraging people to start chucking spears? Is sprinting encouraging people to run down pavements? Where do you end? Yes, we glamorise racing on racing tracks, but we're not ever suggesting you do that in a different environment."
