James May Recalls Scariest 'Grand Tour' Crash: Richard Hammond 'Dragged From Wreckage'

James May joined Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond for the second season of Top Gear in 2003. The cast became stewards of global car culture with a unanimous love of internal combustion and humor.

We spoke to May about the series finale of The Grand Tour , airing Friday, Sept. 13 on Amazon. Titled One for The Road , the two-hour special brings the May and Hammond to a country they’ve never visited before, Zimbabwe, then caps off the series with a return to the Botswana salt flats where they ended their first travel special for Top Gear in 2007.

We caught up with May to chat about the highs and lows of filming The Grand Tour over 46 episodes across six series.

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When pushed about the scariest thing that ever happened while filming, May said: "I suppose the brief window in which I believed Richard Hammond killed himself going up the mountain when he was driving the Rimac , only to realize they waved all the flags and dragged him from the wreckage. He was alive and they knew he was going to catch fire."

They were filming in Switzerland. On Hammond's fourth and final run of the hill-climb trail in St. Gallen, he approached a corner too fast, causing his tires to lose traction and slide off the track."

"That makes me run cold," former Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman told Times Radio . "[Hammond] was on his own at the bottom of that hill, upside down. He'd broken his knee and he had to get out of that car. And a super-car window is like a letter box. If he had been unconscious, he wouldn't be here."

Read our full interview with James May ahead of 'The Grand Tour' series finale.

Related: James May Has One Regret From 'The Grand Tour' Series Finale