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Ford Motor Co.'s transmission plant in Sharonville is trying to put the automaker's recovery strategy in gear.

The 51-year-old plant produces gears and other transmission components for most of Ford's key models, including the redesigned 2010 Taurus full-sized sedan, which is debuting later this summer and is seen as a key element in Ford's recovery plan.

Unlike General Motors and Chrysler, Ford has reorganized without a federal government bailout or bankruptcy. The automaker used a media tour for the new Taurus Monday to show off the productivity, quality and spirit at the 2.4 million-square-foot Sharonville plant, which employs 1,500 hourly and salaried workers.

"This is one of the most advanced plants of its kind in the world," said Darryl Hazel, senior vice president and president of Ford Customer Service. "All Ford products have some piece of this plant in it."

At a time when jobs lost to foreign manufacturing is a growing concern, he said the Sharonville plant is net exporter of goods to China, where it ships gears for the Chinese version of the Focus.

The Sharonville plant also produces gears -- which account for about a third of the transmission content -- for other Ford and Lincoln-Mercury vehicles, including the Ford Fusion, Flex, Edge, Expedition and the Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKS.

The plant also assembles the 5R110W heavy-duty transmission for the F-150 pickup trucks. The plant produces more than 7,000 gear sets a day.

The plant is also putting the finishing touches on a $200 million Ford investment, announced two years ago, for a new six-speed transmission which Ford has under wraps. Tom Thieman, plant manager, said he couldn't discuss that project.

"We'll have you back in soon to discuss that," he told a reporter during a tour of the plant.

The Sharonville plant in the early 1980s was the first Ford plant to adopt a team leadership approach, which gives hourly employees a voice in productivity, quality, safety and other factors. The day-in and day-out operations of the plant are supervised by 105 hourly team leaders. It's been a key to the plant's success, officials of the company and United Auto Workers Local 863 at the plant said.

Despite U.S. car and truck sales being down 60 percent from where they were just two years ago, Gary Alexander, UAW committee person, said morale among his members "is surprisingly upbeat. We're a real industry success story."

Ford, he noted, has posted higher market share in seven out of the last eight months. "Our quality is the level of anybody in the world including Toyota and Honda," Alexander said.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced today that it has concluded its investigation into television presenter Richard Hammond’s high-speed crash last September. The investigation identifies omissions by two of the parties involved, but finds no grounds for prosecution.

The crash occurred on 20 September 2006 while Mr Hammond was driving the Vampire, a jet powered modified drag racer at Elvington airfield, near York, during filming for BBC TV’s Top Gear programme. The car was owned by Northants-based Primetime Landspeed Engineering (PTLE), who also provided Mr Hammond’s training.

The immediate cause of the accident was a catastrophic failure of the Vampire’s front offside tyre at 288 mph on the seventh high-speed run of the day. Examination of this tyre and video footage showed that the tyre was damaged, as a result of an object (or objects) having entered the sidewall immediately adjacent to the edge of the tread, during the latter part of the previous run. A blister was visible in the tyre’s outer side but this appears to have subsided and was not apparent immediately before the final run commenced.

HSE’s investigation team pursued three lines of enquiry: the planning and preparation undertaken by the BBC and PTLE, the training given to Richard Hammond, and a technical examination of the vehicle and its tyres. HSE acknowledges the assistance provided by the BBC and PTLE during this investigation, and the support provided by North Yorkshire Police.

The investigation used evidence from the BBC’s filming of the day, up to and including the accident, and telemetry data recorded as part of the filming. Specialist evidence was obtained from within HSE on ergonomic issues, from the Transport Research Laboratory Ltd on the tyres, and from North Yorkshire Police on the vehicle and crash scene.

Principal Inspector Keith King, who led HSE team, said: "The investigation identified several safety features, which in combination, almost certainly saved Mr Hammond’s life. These included: the structural integrity of the Vampire, which survived the crash intact; the design of the driver restraint arrangements; the crash helmet selected and the emergency rescue services on site at the airfield. Other precautions adopted included the decision not to deploy camera crews along the margins of the runway.

"The investigation also identified failings in the BBC’s safety management systems relating to risk assessment and the procurement of services from others, and by PTLE in their risk assessment for the services they provided to the BBC at Elvington. These failings and other recommendations are being pursued with the two parties involved. However, when viewed against HSE’s enforcement criteria, none of these failings merit prosecution."

The investigation has identified wider issues for the broadcast industry about the preparation and training of presenters for such activities. HSE is passing these findings on to the Joint Advisory Committee for Entertainment.

A detailed summary of the investigation is available on HSE’s website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/releases/richardhammond.pdf

Shiny cars wait for their appearnce on the Top Gear Live show, which finished its world tour in Hong Kong last weekend. / Courtesy of BBC

By Han Sang-hee
Korea Times Correspondent

HONG KONG ― BBC's hit program ``Top Gear'' launched the final leg of its live show tour in Hong Kong, showing that with the right content and cool cars, anything can be made into thrilling entertainment.

Hosted by two star hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and Hong Kong's favorite racing driver, Marchy Lee, the Top Gear Live venue, the 3000-seat Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, was packed with fans waiting for more than the British television program. And presumably, they went home happy and entertained.

``Welcome to Top Gear Live,'' started Clarkson, appearing in a paisley shirt and jeans, walking out from a Lamborghini, along with Hammond in a Porsche and Lee in a Maserati.

Famous for his witty and cutting remarks, Clarkson managed to bring his humor right from the program and onto the large stage, along with fellow host Hammond.

``He's even smaller than you!,'' Clarkson said as Lee walked toward Hammond, drawing laughter from the audience.

Lee was a bit overshadowed by the two hosts, but carried out his role well as the Hong Kong representative, translating and also showing some of his own driving stunts and skills during the show.

The stage, which resembled an F1 track, was closer to the audience than expected, offering thrills whenever the cars screeched along the slippery floors.

Stunt drivers appeared in shiny cars, followed by a police car, boasting their driving techniques gracefully and effortlessly with fireworks and pyrotechnics wowing the crowd. The cream of the crop was the commercial-like sequence when a driver instantly parked a car in a tiny space in a row right between two others.

Then came the race between the three hosts on what they called ``car wear,'' which were tiny contraptions that, surprisingly, moved and raced like cars.

Next brought onto the stage was the ``cage of death,'' or a small, circular cage, and a motorbike stunt rider who entered it and was later joined by a total of four other riders as they raced inside it, with audience members holding their breath.

Another interesting segment was the wall of fame, where the audience helped rate different vehicles, including a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Zonda and Bugatti.

Audience members were given papers that were green on one side and red on the other and would hold up one side, monitored by a special optical device on the ceiling that would count the number of colors and finally show it on the large screen in the middle of the stage. The winner? The Bugatti Veyron.

Other than bringing Lee to just ``localize'' the show, there was also a segment where a martial artist came onto the stage and performed a duel with a vehicle.

There were, however, less astonishing sequences, like the bowling segment where Lee was placed inside a shopping cart and pushed by a Mercedes Benz driven by Clarkson, and a drumming session with a drum kit made out of used car parts.

The highlight of the show was the exhilarating three-against-three soccer match, between the Hong Kong team, led by Lee, and the U.K. team, led by Hammond.

The small Suzukis, driven by professional stunt drivers, were swift, and the game was surprisingly like any other soccer game: the ``injured'' car was sent back to be replaced, the defense cars rushed back to their goals in a split second while the penalty kick was carried out by racing backwards with the plastic soccer ball.

``Hong Kong is famously terrible in soccer,'' Clarkson joked, drawing laughter from the audience.

The game finished with 4:3 for the U.K.

The finale was, ironically, a bit weak compared to the soccer match, when the audience shouted and cheered enthusiastically.

Top Gear's mystery driver the Stig appeared in his usual white uniform and helmet, racing around the stage on a Lotus, trying to get away from an armed helicopter shooting from the screen.

Thanks to the 3D glasses, the helicopter did seem like it was heading toward the audience, but no thanks to the advanced technology in action films and games, the 3D experience did not match up to the soccer match.

With high hopes in bringing the live show annually to other parts of the world, Top Gear Live ended its 75-minute segment with crowds cheering.

The total package was thrilling and entertaining with spectacular ― make that expensive ― cars racing, spinning and competing live for fans.

``The core of the program is cars, we think it's the best invention (in the world),'' Clarkson said.