BEING the butt of many a Top Gear joke may seem like a tough gig for James "Captain Slow" May, but he has the good-natured temperament to handle it.

Of far more concern to him of late has been the health of his old mate and fellow presenter Richard Hammond, who is lucky to be alive following a near-300mph crash last month.

"At first everyone was going on about Richard not walking and talking again and at that point there was a real danger of him having serious injuries," explained James.

"I was worried as he is an old mate, but I can stop worrying that he’s completely knackered now – he will be back on the show but it may take a number of months. His memory is not too good but I know he will eventually be ok.

"If, God forbid, he had not made it we would have stopped Top Gear. It just wouldn’t work without him as we have spent years building up a dynamic between us."

His relaxed approach to delivering verdicts on the latest motor marvels has made him a hit with viewers and his skills are sure to be in demand at this year’s keenly-anticipated, high-revving, MPH show being held at Earl’s Court.

Everything from the exceptionally rare Jaguar XJ13 (a model was once reportedly the subject of a £7million bid such was its scarcity) to the latest supercars will be on display and in action at this high-octane event of the year.

"I think it’s going to be a pretty good show with loads of cars shooting round and getting broken.

"There will not be many moments when you can just sit there and relax – it’s just cars, cars, cars careering around. Clarkson will be there with me and I’ll be teeing him up plenty of jokes."

Since his tenure on Top Gear, James has been a very busy man, having just filmed a month-long series in France with Kent wine expert Oz Clarke.

He’s also penned his own book, May on Motors, which, he holds his hands up, seems "a bit like cheating" as it’s compiled of several pieces of recent editorial.

Underlining his status as the discerning man of TV motoring, he has a regular column in the Daily Telegraph which offers witty insights into the pysche of the modern driver.

While the 43-year-old’s career now seems very much established, this was not always the case. He started out with a degree in music from Lancaster University.

From there the life-long car fan fell into "a few sketchy jobs" as he puts it and then blagged his way on to an engineering magazine.

This opened the door to working on Autocar, from which he was spectacularly fired for hiding a skilfully-devised message within the drop-capitals of the magazine text which highlighted his boredom.

"The company didn’t see the funny side of that."

This could potentially have been the end for his career. But when the Top Gear call came, he could hardly resist the opportunity to fulfil every boy’s fantasy - having a ball in a feast of the finest sporting motors known to man or woman.

He’s played Toyota Yaris football against Hammond, sped through the desert in the world’s fastest production car, a Bentley Flying Spur, and assembled a Caterham 7 in a day with a challenge against the mysterious Stig.

"It’s a great laugh to do the show, as Hammond puts it we are at the cutting edge of cocking about. Kids like it because we’ve got lots of flashy bits of kit and I get older women coming up to me about the show saying they don’t know much about cars but like us boys.

"It’s difficult to pigeon hole it. I guess it’s become a Sunday evening light entertainment show."

As you might expect, the Bristol-born star has quite a few motoring toys at his Hammersmith home. These include a Bentley, two Porsches and his runaround, a Fiat Panda. Perhaps the latter is appropriate for the man dubbed Captain Slow by his screen co-presenters.

"I don’t mind being Captain Slow, I don’t need to win the races as it’s not important.

"It means I get a big sympathy vote from people and a bigger cheer when I do win as with the amphibious cars and the Winter Olympic challenge in which I beat Clarkson through skill and cunning!"