TODAY'S LESSON: "things go wrong"
Richard Hammond, star of the BBC Two car show "Top Gear," was very nearly sent off to the Great Garage in the Sky last summer when he crashed a jet-powered car while attempting to set a British land speed record.
Happily--for us, and for Hammond, and for the show's ratings--Hammond not only survived, but the whole mess was caught on film, and last night eight million Britons got to tune in and watch it unfold. And skid. And then explode.
On his blog at topgear.com, a wiser, more reflective Hammond defends airing the footage, and puts his ordeal in perspective:
"We can't pretend it didn't happen--that we can hoon about all over Europe in supercars and punt jet-propelled dragsters up runways at 300mph without things going wrong. That's how it is in the world; things go wrong. And if I've learned one thing, it's that they can go wrong at the worst possible moment."
And if we've learned anything, it's that there are still few things in the world cooler than watching videos of insanely violent car crashes. Maybe that's not exactly the lesson we were supposed to take away from all of this--but until car crashes get boring, that's the lesson that's going to stick.
(And what's "hooning," anyway?)
-- BEN COSGROVE
"hooning"? In Australia, it's behaving like a hoon - e.g. revving the engine at traffic lights and then dropping the clutch (remember what that was?) - and generally exhibiting a late-teens driving style which demonstrates more testosterone than brains.