Telly favourite Richard Hammond is throwing a £20,000 “thank you” party to the medics who saved him after his 288mph jet car crash.

Coach-loads of 100 doctors, nurses and air ambulance staff are taking the 200-mile trip to London for the bash.

Last night a source close to the Top Gear host — nicknamed Hamster by co-star Jeremy Clarkson — said: “This is very much NOT a showbiz do.

“It is a party to thank the medics who saved Richard’s life.”

How very cool of Richard.

[Source: The Sun]

For those of us who just can’t get enough of Top Gear and it’s presenters, Jeremy, Richard, and James all have released new books for the fall.

Richard’s autobiography, entitled “On the Edge“, was co-written with his wife Mindy. It details his 288 MPH crash last year and his recovery from the accident. There’s also a really funny video preview of the book by Richard at Amazon.co.uk.

Or you can just watch it via YouTube:

Jeremy’s book, “Don’t Stop Me Now“, contains his latest collection of columns as well as a ton of other random stuff.

Lastly, James May’s 20th Century accompanies his recent television series which covered various inventions and discoveries made over the past century.

[Via TopGear.com]

During Wednesday’s filming, a member of our forums, robybobey, got to chatting about the helmet with Richard during a break and then posted the following:

Yesterday, during the tea break at the Top Gear filming, I had a little chat with Hammond about the helmet. He said that he was very grateful for it and has signed a photo that I gave him (which is of him wearing the helmet) saying thanks

Check out the photo!

Okay, so he was asked to sign the photo basically, but it’s still pretty cool. ;)

A BBC report has concluded that an object such as a nail caused the jet car’s front tire to disintegrate last year in a crash that nearly killed Richard.

Various news sites are totally blowing a small accident Richard had over the weekend in the Britcar 24 hour race at Silverstone out of proportion. Don’t fret — it was just a small collision he had with another car. Things like that happen during racing. They are just hyping it up to sell more papers and such.

That’s right, those lucky bastards down in Australia are going to be able to see the MPH show themselves, a car show / live Top Gear thingy hosted by Clarkson, Richard, and James reports GoAuto.com.au. It will be sometime within the next 18 months according to the article.

For those who don’t remember or weren’t around at the time, shortly after Richard’s crash in the dragster, we collected donations and used them to buy a helmet and have it custom painted just for Richard. It took a while, but we finally got it to him earlier this year (full backstory there as well).

In an upcoming episode of Top Gear, Richard will be using a Bugatti Veyron for a segment (I won’t spoil why, but it’s pretty damn cool). Photos have emerged online of him in the car and he just happens to be wearing a familiar helmet.

Sweet, huh? I’m giddy with pride. More photos and discussion right here.

Photos of our helmet after the jump »

GQ, a popular men’s magazine, has voted Richard their TV personality of the year. Congratulations, Richard!

Back in September, not long after Hammond’s terrifying crash, we started a donation fund in order to get something nice for him. After a long discussion on what to get him, we finally decided to get a custom painted racing helmet.

Well after months of work (coordinating, airbrushing, etc.), Hammond has finally received his helmet! No word back from him yet, but you can get more details and see pictures in this thread on our forums.

Thanks again to all who donated and helped us get him this gift!

Someone was kind enough to upload the following video to YouTube. It’s been squished to the wrong proportions by YouTube and is kinda crap quality, but it’s the only rips we can find of the other commercials that are airing for the show, so take it or leave it. ;)