DRAMATIC pictures of the horrific dragster smash that almost cost TV presenter Richard Hammond, left, his life have been published for the first time.

They show the jet-powered Vampire suffering a blow-out as it speeds down the runway at Elvington, near York, at 288mph.

The machine then spins onto the grass, flips into the air and rolls before coming to a bone-crunching halt.

Both the rollbar and driver's helmet are seen to be pushed into the ground and partially buried by the impact.

The pictures are featured in the new issue of Top Gear magazine.

Hammond will also talk viewers through the footage when the TV show returns later this month.

He made a remarkable recovery after the smash last September.

Doctors first predicted he could be in hospital for 15 months, but he was released within weeks.

"If there's one thing I shall take away from seeing the footage it's the knowledge that things can and do go wrong," he said.

"If seeing the footage helps a single person to learn that lesson, then it's worth showing."

Although the TV star - nicknamed the Hamster - has little recollection of the crash, he has tried to imagine what happened.

"I will have taken a few deep breaths on the start line as the engine roared and my thumb hovered over the afterburner switch.

"Then I will have hit it and 10,000 horsepower will have hurled me towards the horizon and up to 280mph. The rest is, I'm afraid, history."

Hammond suffered brain injuries in the smash but was saved by paramedics and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, which flew him to Leeds General Infirmary.

The father-of-two, who once worked as a radio reporter in North Yorkshire, spent five weeks in hospital, but is now making a full recovery.

Following the crash, donations totalling £250,000 flooded in to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, giving them enough to buy a new helicopter.

* Top Gear returns on BBC2 at 8pm on January 28. Full Hammond interview and more pictures in Top Gear magazine.