Recently I’ve found myself a belated fan of this relatively obscure show (well in Canada anyway). I’ve known about it for years but it never made it to my PVR list until recently. The charm of the show is wrapped up in the 3 charismatic presenters and the absolutely outrageous litany of hare-brained challenges, races and outright spectacle they’ve been responsible for since hitting the airwaves in Jeremy Clarkson’s re-envisioned, resurrection of the long running BBC show in 2002.

I’d become quickly attached to the 3 personalities during the occasional times I happened to trip over it on the weekends, but with it playing nightly on BBC Canada currently, this is a great chance to get it on the PVR and really catch up. Imagine my surprise then when I find out tonight co-host Richard Hammond had been involved in a horrific crash during a speed test segment for the show back in 2006. A coma, brain injuries,  a long road to recovery later and Richard did make a full recovery, returning to the show in record time considering the nature of his crash.

Well as all enterprising individuals with a good story to tell eventually do; he wrote a book about it called On The Edge: My Story.  I’m told it’s quite compelling and will be making it onto my night stand in short order. Honestly if you find cars interesting at all, you owe it to yourself to track this program down on your dial and get to know these guys. Check the vid below for Richard’s return appearance, complete with footage of the amazing crash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_o3g8MzrTE

Top Gear’s Richard Hammond’s Horrible Crash at 505 km/h