HAMSTER'S BEST BITS

3. FROZEN HAMSTER
In the motor industry research association in Nuneaton, Richard Hammond sits in a chamber which re-creates the freezing temperatures of the North Pole. The test? Who will break first in the extreme cold – car or man? The Citroen C1 or Richard Hammond?

“In minus 30, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble if you’re still in the car,â€? says a technician from the laboratory. “Ice crystals start to form in the skin tissue, will puncture the cells, your fingers will stay frozen as will anything else before you ‘eventually drop off’â€?.

Hammond is covered in temperature sensors and a thermometer placed inside Richard, although, to his alarm, not in his mouth!

With Hammond wearing little more than a scarf, gloves and woollen sweater, he climbs into the C1, itself inside a huge freezer, blasted by an 80mph arctic wind. He’s slightly concerned about his nose ‘dropping off.’

To test the car’s electrics are working, Hammond plugs in his iPod to be greeted to the tune of the pop group Arrow’s ‘Hot, Hot, Hot’. Over an hour and minus 23 degrees into the test, the C1 fails to start. “You are out!â€? chirps Hammond, whose blood has beaten the engine’s own diesel life blood. Next test; the electrics. The gearbox oil has frozen but the iPod still works.

Minus forty degrees centigrade and the electrics still work in the ‘frostbite zone’. But with Hammond’s brain now struggling to cope with an 11+ test, the C1’s electrics finally die.

The upshot? “If you want to drive to the North Pole, buy a Hammond!â€?

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