One of the topics trending at the moment seems to be about Hammo and what cars he drives. Obviously the TG community is interested in the cars that all of the trio own, but there is something special about Hammond and his love for the Porsche.
‘SHUT UP ABOUT YER GLORIFIED BEETLE!’
There is clearly no love lost between Clarkson and Porsche when it comes to the bug-eyed 911’s air-cooled roots. Yet it’s taken more than a little joshing from his co-presenter to deter Hammo from this true automotive love. Indeed Hammo exhorts Jeremy to ‘persevere’ with his Porsche smoking pipe on one occasion.
In Top Gear Series 10 Episode 2, Richard races the Carrera 2S against Clarkson in an Audi R8. What comes over is Hammo’s genuine sensation of at-one-ness with the machine; an old-fashioned organic feeling like the driver is both part of the car and intimately involved in what the car is doing.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS – AND RUFUS
It’s quite amusing watching Hammo in an old clip from his pre-TG pre-prosperity days on Men & Motors. He started his personal Porsche ownership with a 1982 911SC called Rufus.
Dream Deals tells us that it had a sports pack, chin spoiler, front fog lights and stone guards on the rear wheel arches. It also sported 16″ cold-forged Fuchs alloys, a whale-tail spoiler, and a 3.0l flat-6 engine.
In Richard’s book On The Edge he makes some reference to this vehicle in his account of his interview to get the job on Top Gear. Despite being LHD and suffering from slight mildew, he wasn’t put off, and moved on to a 928 by 2004, for ‘daily driving’.
KEEPING UP WITH THE MAYS – AND CLARKSONS
Clearly pining for that classic Ferdinand Porsche shape, Hammo acquired a 2006 model 997 3.8l Carrera S, which May berates him for in a rather amusing transmission blog clip on the BBC TG website.
When the trio went to the USA for the supercar roadtrip, Hammo was the only one to ‘bring a knife to a gun fight’ by bringing a sports car – the 911 GT3.
THE PRESENT AND BEYOND
Earlier in 2013, Hammond wrote in the Daily Record that he was on his 3rd 911, so, providing he can count, it seems he is still with that 997. Either that or he has changed again since the article was published in March.
We know from May’s comparison of the latest 911 incarnation with the Singer 911 (S20E5) that Hammond frowns upon the steering of the new Porsches – and probably a few other details too. If you saw May’s piece, you would have seen Hammond’s reaction. Being a 911 purist, Hammo likes his Porsches old school.
We’ve asked Richard for an Autumn 2013 update on his Porsche situation and will fill you in as soon as we have the juicy details.