Police probe Hammond's car 

Accident investigators were examining film footage on Friday of the moment Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond crashed in a jet-powered car as he accelerated towards 300 miles per hour.

The BBC broadcaster suffered what his doctors have called a significant brain injury as a result of Wednesday's accident at an airfield near York.

The 36-year-old presenter was taken by air ambulance to the specialist neurological unit at Leeds General Infirmary where doctors say they are concerned about his condition but also "reasonably optimistic that he will make a good recovery."

The accident is being jointly investigated by police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

An HSE spokesman said on Friday its officers were focusing on the events that led-up to the incident - the planning for the high-speed dragster dash, the risk assessment undertaken and whether Hammond received any special training.

"We will look at the film footage, but at the moment we are concentrating on what activity took place prior to the accident," he said.

Police have taken the Vampire jet-car away for forensic examination and have been looking at the state of the track at the former RAF base. Media reports have spoken of a burst tyre having caused the crash.

The presenter had been filming at Elvington airfield in what media reports said was an attempt to break the British land speed record of 300.3 mph, when the accident happened.

A spokesman for the car's sponsor, auto accessory maker Thule, has said that although timers were in place to record Hammond's speed, it would not have qualified as an official record attempt.

The BBC could face a possible prosecution if it is found proper safety precautions were not taken.

But whatever the outcome it may be the case that the Top Gear motoring programme in its current format could be axed if criticism about the show's trademark daredevil stunts mounts.

The series, which attracts over six million viewers in Britain as well as millions more abroad, was criticised for being "obsessed with acceleration" by a group of MPs in 1999.