Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond spoken about Crash for the first time....What really happened?

Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has spoken of his 300mph crash ordeal for the first time, telling the Daily Mirror that he thought he'd "had it" after the jet-powered dragster he was driving veered off a track and smashed into a field.

The 36-year-old was filming in the high-speed Vampire car for the BBC2 motoring show when the crash happened at Elvington airfield near York, on September 20th.

Describing the state of his health when medics rushed to his aid, Hammond revealed: "I was that close to being dead.

"I was in a bad way when they came to get me. The air ambulance guys were amazed I was still breathing," he added.

The Top Gear presenter, nicknamed 'Hamster', was flown to by air ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary following the crash where he was treated for a brain injury.

Now at a secret location recovering from his injuries with wife Mindy and their two daughters, Izzy, six, and Willow, three, Hammond said: "At first they said I'd be in hospital for 15 months.

"Yet here I am ready to go back home after five weeks," he said, expressing surprise at the speed of his own recovery.

The TV presenter even joked that he had told medics attending him following the crash that he needed to film a piece to camera a remark thought to have been made in his confusion as a result of the head injury he suffered.

Hammond also told the Mirror that he had "absolutely no idea what went wrong" to cause the crash, which is currently the subject of two investigations.

"One minute I was there and the next I was buried head first, off the track," he told the paper.

The BBC has confirmed that Hammond signed a new two-year contract with them before his accident, but a spokeswoman for the channel said the corporation could not confirm the return of Top Gear or any future projects involving the star until they had received an update on his medical progress.