Charlie Cox (racing)

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Charlie Cox (born June 10, 1960), and brought up in the Sydney suburb of Gymea.

He commentates on MotoGP racing for the BBC. His catchphrases include "revs are up, ready for a start" shortly before the racing, "taking the hole shot" to mean either taking the lead at the start or passing 2 or more rivals in one go, and "that's shot the fox" when a driver providing exciting action drops out. He often describes "lunatic" drivers as "mad axe murderers". "A nightmare in a bubble car" means a bad race, perhaps when a rider is in "P-nowhere". When a driver suffers a serious problem he is often heard saying "he needs that like a third armpit". "As close as you like" is another phrase he is known for, as is "He's really got the magnets on", to mean that a trailing rider is [quickly] closing the gap to a leading rider. Charlie sees the good side of any rider/driver and makes even the most boring of races sound like warfare!

His background is more based on 4 wheels than 2 however. He raced in the National Saloon Car Cup in Britain in 1993 and 1994, winning several races. He also won the Willhire 24 Hour at Snetterton in a BMW M3 in 1993. For 1995 he moved up to the BTCC in a Ford Mondeo with sponsorship from the Evening Standard newspaper. He caused a sensation in a wet race early in the season by finishing 5th, although behind both works Fords, choosing the correct tyres and recovering from an early spin. However, a huge barrel-rolling crash at Thruxton left him with concussion, and caused him to miss several races. When he returned it was in a hatchback Mondeo, making him the first driver to race one in the BTCC. He raced occasionally in Sportscars subsequently, as well as some appearances at the Bathurst 1000.

His second career began when he started commentating on BTCC in 1997 alongside Murray Walker. For 1998 Murray left, and was replaced by 1982 Formula One runner-up John Watson. When the BBC lost BTCC coverage, they switched Charlie to motorbike coverage alongside Steve Parrish & Suzi Perry

[edit] Top Gear Australia

Charlie has been named as one of the hosts of Top Gear Australia, along with cartoonist Warren Brown and advanced driving instructor Steve Pizzati, which is to begin on SBS in 2008. [1]