Indeed, reading further it seems there was a problem with the parachute the car deployed to brake that dragged it off the field.
Best of luck to him, I wasn’t too sure how to interpret the reports that he was brain damaged but would recover.
‘Brain injury’ (which is what they’re calling it, rather than 'brain damage) might be describing some kind of trauma that has, for example, caused swelling or concussion that may impair function at the moment, but might not be actually destroying the brain - meaning that recovery of function is possible when the condition settles down.
I’ve heard that James May was due to be doing this segment for Top Gear, but Hammond took over at the last minute (for reasons that escape me at the moment). May must be experiencing an interesting mix of emotions at the moment…
Grim
Captain Slow was going to take a car above Her Majesty’s speed limit?! :eek: 
Encouraging news - they’ve moved him out of Intensive Care and downgraded him from “serious but stable” to “stable”. Jeremy Clarkson says that he looks OK apart from a black eye. No news on the teeth.
If he makes a full recovery and returns to work (and I really hope he does), every time he expresses any opinion on anything (the ‘cool wall’ for example), Clarkson is going to rip the piss out of him to the effect that the opinion is the result of a blow to the head.
I can hardly wait.
Indeed. I do hope he makes it back, Hammond was the one that got me into Top Gear. In the meantime the B3TA front page is doing a good job of taking the piss in a Clarkson style.
Of course the Mythbusters didn’t actually dare to ride in the rocket car. They wimp out on a lot of stuff but then again I would too…