The Grand Tour

The Best Moments of Richard Hammond: How the Hamster Rolls

While he may not be the loudest, the tallest, or the slowest of the bunch, Richard Hammond is without a doubt, a key member of the trio that we have all come to know and love.

From Top Gear, his BBC specials, and the now filming The Grand Tour, Richard has had a plethora of amazing and memorable moments. In fact, there’s so many great memories, it was impossible to add them all to one list, but these are (in no particular order) some of the very best moments from the Hamster.

Oliver

Who could forget Oliver, Richard’s Opel Kadett from the Top Gear Botswana special episode? From its delightful driving characteristics, to it’s somewhat sickly sounding, but adorable horn, Hammond, and ourselves, fell in love with the little car that could, and we probably fell in love a little more in love with Richard too.

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“I am a driving God”

The scene from an episode of the “lost season” of Top Gear, featuring Hamster driving the amazing Bowler Wildcat. The off-roader was so good and confidence inspiring, it even made Richard go so far as to call himself a “driving God”. The exciting scene was as fun as it was funny and as usual gave us even more reasons to love Richard Hammond.

The Malaria Pill

Richard is known for his often, off the cuff, comedic remarks and this scene was no different. While driving along through the jungle, Hammond remarks that he cannot remember whether or not he had taken his Malaria pill. Following this concern, he goes on to expand that if he was a women, he would be pregnant a lot, referring of course to the birth control pills women can take daily to avoid unwanted pregnancies.  Classic awkward, Hammond humor!

The Scandinavian Flip, Or Is It Flick?

This memory, from the great “Man With A Van” challenge, showed just how well Hammond could skillfully operate a van round a corner, which is to say, not very well. In an attempt to perform a “Scandinavian flick”, a world renowned technique, named after Scandinavian rally drivers in the 60’s, in which the driver uses the technique to get around corners that have an increasing radius, Hammond manages to complete flip over his van. Hammond once again gave us another great memory, remarking that ” he may have overcooked that a bit” following the hilarious rollover.

Richard Burns Down A Train

This hot memory comes from the episode where the trio tries to build the ultimate caravan train. While performing his stewardly duties, Hammond absent-mindedly starts a fire in the kitchen car, eventually burning it completely.

Despite a gracious warning from Clarkson, which May dismisses (we can only wonder why), their train comes to a halt and their passengers flee. With an ever positive attitude however, Richard looks at the whole experience as a resounding success!

Hammond Loses His Mind (and any sense of self-censorship)

While on a bike, racing his fellow hosts through London, Hammond is cut off by a rather run down looking van, and boy does it get on his bad side. There’s really no further explanation needed, but I have to say, Hammond is a hell of a colorful language expert!

Car Horn Pranks With Clarkson 

While May leaves his post for a stop off at the local station to relieve himself, Hamster & Jezza take it upon themselves to do him a favor and give his car a few tasteful modifications with some first class wiring and glue. Truly a great prank and another hilarious Hammond memory!

A Dam Good Drive…

No doubt one of Hammond’s most epic videos on Top Gear, Richard takes a modified Land Rover up the side of a dam in celebration of a classic Land Rover commercial in which the do the same, as well as to celebrate their anniversary. Hammond is known for having some of the greatest top gear scenes of all time, and this is certainly on that list. A little terrifying, a lot of bravery, and one small Hamster makes this easily one of Hammond’s most memorable moments.

Hammond Rides A Plane

As usual on Top Gear, Hammond finds himself in yet another precarious position. This time, he give’s us not only one of our most memorable moments, but definitely one of his, as he gets strapped to the top of a biplane and is flipped and rolled through the sky. Starting off, Hammond is obviously terrified, but by the end, he’s laughing along right with us. There truly may be no end to which he won’t go to keep us entertained.

Hammond Recovers From His Crash

Ok, so this may not be funny, or extremely entertaining, but I know myself, and you other fans out there couldn’t be happier that Hammond recovered from his epic, terrible, crash in the rocket powered car. Richard has had his share of close shaves, but this one had us all holding our breath. While he was in a coma for some time after, he recovered exceptionally well, which all of us are grateful for. In the end, having those we look up to survive another day is probably the best memory we can have.

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What are your favorite memories of Hammond? Did you like our list? What did we forget? Be sure and let us know in the comments!

Nick Dunlap

Nick is a lifelong automotive enthusiast, as well as journalist, and content creator. Nick also successful competes in a variety of automotive fields including national level car shows, autocross, SCCA races, and more. He enjoys designing and building a variety of cars and helping others do the same with theirs.

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