'Am I having a midlife crisis?': Richard Hammond, 52, reveals he has sold most of his flash sports cars and instead drives a pick-up truck

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Richard Hammond has said he thinks he might be having a midlife crisis after selling most of his expensive sports cars.

The former Top Gear presenter, 52, revealed that unlike other middle-aged men who stereotypically splash out on flash vehicles, he has in fact sold his car collection.

He said he mainly drives a pick-up truck or a Land Rover rather than the flash sports cars he has owned and driven on TV shows in the past.

Changes: Richard Hammond (pictured in December) has said he thinks he might be having a midlife crisis after selling most of his expensive sports cars

'Am I having a midlife crisis? The archetypal, stereotypical thing is buying a sports car and I've got rid of most of mine,' he told The Mirror.

But he is still a car enthusiast and runs a restoration business, The Smallest Cog, while he recently said he enjoys building things more as he 'rushes towards middle age'.

The mechanic told Weekend Magazine: 'My midlife crisis is more likely to involve dismantling the red sports car and rebuilding it.'

Richard also said he no longer throws himself into dangerous situations, as he was previously known for doing daredevil stunts on Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May.

Flash cars: The former Top Gear presenter (pictured in 2005), 52, revealed that unlike other middle-aged men who stereotypically splash out on vehicles, he has sold his car collection

While he was filming Top Gear back in 2006, he spent two weeks in a coma and sustained brain injuries following a catastrophic crash.

He was driving a jet-powered Vampire at more than 300mph when one of the front tyres failed and the car flipped.

Richard was rushed to hospital after he had to be cut from the vehicle, and was incredibly lucky to survive.

The father-of-two later revealed he experienced depression, paranoia and memory loss due to brain damage suffered. 

And a decade later, on The Grand Tour, he had another near miss when his Rimac Concept One supercar flipped, careered down a Swiss mountainside and burst into flames.

Cars: But Richard still has a love for cars and he now runs a car restoration business, The Smallest Cog. Pictured: Richard driving his hand-built Morgan Roadster

But he has now admitted that he no longer does such stunts because of his wife Mindy, 56, and his daughters Izzy, 21, and Willow, 18.

He told The Mirror: 'I don't want to risk taking myself out of their lives because we all have a lot of fun together and I wouldn't want not to be there to fulfil that role.'

Last July, it was reported that Richard was selling his collection of classic vehicles for hundreds of thousands of pounds to fund his TV show.

It was said he used the proceeds from the sale of his eight motors to support his vehicle restoration business, The Smallest Cog.

He also turned the business into a TV show called Richard Hammond's Workshop, which aired on Discovery Plus last October.

Daredevil: Richard, who got into two crashes while filming, admitted he no longer does stunts because of his wife Mindy (pictured in 2018), 56, and his daughters Izzy, 21, and Willow, 18

The cars he sold included a 'much loved' 1959 Bentley S2 that was inherited from his family, a stunning 1969 Porsche 911T, a 1927 Sunbeam Model 2 motorcycle and a classic 1999 Lotus Esprit Sport 350 which is one of only 48 ever built.

Also featured in the collection was a 1932 Velocette KSS Mk1 and a highly collectable 1977 Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk1.

He said at the time: 'The irony of me supporting my new classic car restoration business by selling some of my own classic car collection is not wasted on me.

'It is with a very heavy heart that they go, as they have a great deal of personal sentimental value, but they will be funding the future development of the business and giving life back to countless other classic vehicles.'

Elsewhere, Richard recently revealed that he did not teach his daughter Willow to drive as he confirmed that she had passed her driving test. 

He told Weekend Magazine: 'I did go out with them but only for legal reasons, and mostly I had to be silent because they'd been taught by their driving instructor how to drive to pass their driving test. Anything I said would mess that up.'

He admitted that he 'couldn't teach' them how to drive and admitted he 'doubted' that he would pass the test himself.

He added: 'Everything's changed about the test since I did it. You have to open the door in a particular way now, so you don't open it into traffic. I'm certain I'd fail.' 

Richard has stepped out of the car completely for his latest TV project, fronting a Channel 4 show called Crazy Contraptions.

The show features teams competing to make a complex chain-reaction machine that can perform a simple domestic task like feeding the dog or running a bath.

Cars: Last July, it was reported that Richard (pictured in January 2019) was selling his collection of classic vehicles for hundreds of thousands of pounds to fund a TV show