Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond says he was fully prepared to die when he famously crashed a jet-powered car while filming the TV show.

Hammond posted a candid and emotional message to Instagram this week to mark the 20th anniversary of his near-fatal mishap.

The 56-year-old suffered serious injuries in the 515 kph crash in 2006 while driving a jet-powered Vampire dragster during filming of an attempted land-speed record for the BBC motoring show at the former RAF Elvington airbase.

The Vampire dragster, which was theoretically capable of travelling at speeds of up to 370mph (595.5 kph), lost control and rolled when one of its tyres unexpectedly failed on a structural level.

In a post on Instagram, Hammond said: “20 years ago today, I came to an abrupt stop upside down in a Yorkshire field, convinced I was about to die.

“A front tyre had blown on the jet-powered dragster I had been driving at over 300mph.

Hammond says he remembers pulling the lever to release the parachute and attempting to steer the car away from disaster, “but disaster was, it seemed, my fate and having done everything I could do avert it, I gave myself over to that fate”.

He went on to say that he “didn’t scream” during the incident and said it “wasn’t frightening”, adding that “it simply occurred to me that the next thing on my to do list was to die”.

“I am only here today to note this anniversary and write these words because of the work of the many people involved in rescuing me from the shattered car, flying me to hospital and treating me there,” he said.

The crash left Hammond in a coma for weeks. Photo: AAP

Hammond name members of the Air Ambulance and aftercare teams who helped him, saying he will be “forever grateful” to them.

“I have had so many lucky career breaks, so many amazing adventures around the world and am father to the two happiest, kindest, most wonderfully talented and loving daughters,” he said.

“But I would have seen none of them if these people hadn’t turned up to work that day and done their job.

“Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

Hammond spent two weeks in a coma after the crash, but returned to Top Gear in early 2007.

Speaking in 2023, he said he believed his memory may have been affected by the accident.

After leaving Top Gear with co-hosts Jeremy Clarkson and James May in 2015, Hammond reunited with them for Prime Video’s The Grand Tour, which they presented until 2024.

-AAP