Examining the science behind misadventure

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - JULY 10: Jake White (Sharks Director of Rugby) of the Cell C Sharks during the Cell C Sharks training session and press conference at Growthpoint Kings Park on July 10, 2014 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images)

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - JULY 10: Jake White (Sharks Director of Rugby) of the Cell C Sharks during the Cell C Sharks training session and press conference at Growthpoint Kings Park on July 10, 2014 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images)

Published Mar 19, 2015

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Richard Hammond looks at stunts gone wrong in his latest show, The Science of Stupid.

RECENTLY a local TV channel invited the media to the launch of a TV show at Chaf Pozi in Soweto. The venue is where you’ll find those FNB towers that people bungee jump off. Part of the proceedings included a complimentary jump off the towers which was compulsory. Now you need to understand, dear reader, that free- falling off high platforms is not my thing.

Thanks to the fact that I read the requirements, I argued that I was only 4kg short of the maximum weight allowed for the activity. So my reasoning was that I wasn’t too far from the “danger zone”.

Had I proceeded, and something happened to me, the scientific explanation would have been simple: I was over the recommended weight and strained the cables.

This kind of analysis is what you will hear from Richard Hammond, in his latest show, The Science of Stupid. The Top Gear presenter looks at stunts gone wrong and offers a scientific explanation as to why. While Mr T makes jokes on I Pity the Fool and Daniel Tosh hilariously exaggerates what happens in his videos, Hammond looks at the physics behind the mishaps. He defines how plausible the stunts were in the first place and why they did not work out.

So in my Chaf Pozi case, had I jumped and had the rope snapped, he would have looked at my weight, the age of the ropes, the security on the building and similar issues.

While that doesn’t take away the pain, it provides some learned insight into why the stunts did not work and perhaps re-affirms why we should not try this at home.

What’s funny is to have a person like Hammond take jabs at accidents when he is accident-prone himself. Working for Top Gear means he gets to race around in some of the fastest cars in the world. That’s part of his job description and part of the occupational hazards are accidents.

In 2006, while shooting Top Gear, he was involved in a serious car accident when the jet-powered car he was driving overturned. Here is the juicy part, Hammond was driving it at 463km/h. He suffered severe head injuries and his health is still affected.

Now let’s look at that incident and apply our own “science” to his stupidity. Who drives at 463km/h? There isn’t much that you can see in front of you when you are going that fast. Even aeroplanes are said to range between 100km/h and 285km/h when they take off and even that’s fast. The only difference is that planes take off and stabilise in the air. Hammond’s stunt was unsafe because he was literally sitting on a comet and the hardware gave in and the whole structure crumbled. He is lucky to be alive.

While we are still with the Top Gear folks, another stupid antic is Jeremy Clarkson’s latest stupid act at the workplace. Clarkson is alleged to have been involved in a physical “fracas” with a producer during a shoot for Top Gear. He has since been suspended, although he’s rumoured to be working on another show, Have I Got News For You.

The “science” behind this incident is simple: Clarkson has a God-complex.

He’s been warned in the past not to be abusive, but the chip on his shoulder seemingly urges him to do otherwise.

• Science of Stupid, Nat Geo (DStv channel 181), Wednesdays, 9.10pm.

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