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TOP Gear presenter Richard Hammond has got out of bed and walked after suffering brain injuries in a high-speed crash, co-host Jeremy Clarkson told The Sun newspaper today.

"In the wee small hours of Thursday night, just 30 hours after what is almost certainly the world's fastest ever car crash, Richard Hammond suddenly sat up in bed opened his eyes and asked what had happened," wrote Clarkson in his Sun column.

"'You've been in a car accident', I said. 'Was I driving badly?' he asked, before getting out of bed and walking shakily to the lavatory."

A Leeds General Infirmary hospital spokeswoman told Reuters today that Hammond continues to "make good progress".

Hammond's wife Mindy also provided an upbeat assessment of her husband's medical condition.

"He's spoken and smiled. It's early days and what has happened hasn't really sunk in for him," she told The Daily Mirror newspaper.

Hammond, 36, was seriously injured on Wednesday when he crashed a jet-powered dragster as he accelerated towards 483km/h in a feature being filmed for the BBC show.

He suffered what his doctors have called a significant brain injury as a result of the accident at an RAF airfield near York.

Although doctors remain concerned about his condition they have said they are "reasonably optimistic that he will make a good recovery."

The accident is being jointly investigated by police and the Health and Safety Executive.

Hammond had been filming at the Elvington airfield in what media reports said was an attempt to break the British land speed record of 483km/h, when the accident happened.

A spokesman for the car's sponsor, auto accessory maker Thule, has said that although timers were in place to record Hammond's speed, it would not have qualified as an official record attempt.