Australian Top Gear - presenters announced
29 May, 2008
36 Comments 
After going over a staggering 4000 video entries, the three presenters of the Aussie version of hit UK TV program Top Gear were announced last night at a function in Sydney.
Charlie Cox, Warren Brown and Steve Pizzati are the inaugural presenters for the program and come from a diverse set of backgrounds.
Cox, 47, is a motorsport commentator who worked in Sydney in the ’80’s before moving to the UK where he won several motoring titles in the ’90’s.
Brown, in his mid-40s is best known for his work as a cartoonist in The Daily Telegraph and also has a passion for historic cars.
Finally, Steve Pizzati, the youngest of the group - in his 30s - works as an advanced driving instructor and a race driver for Porsche Australia.
Producers claim that the Australian Top Gear will have a distinctly Australian feel, but will still be based on the popular UK version of the show.
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May 29th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Good luck boys, do your best. Steve Pizzati is a demon driver. If we have a stig, he will be it!
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May 29th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Congrats, now we can get on with looking forward to the series. Looks like a great team. Who will be the Stig?
James Courtney, anyone?
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May 29th, 2008 at 8:24 am
The Stig should be Jim Richards - he has the credentials in sports sedans.
But we have plenty of class drivers for that role:)
The show may have half a chance with these three, since they are probably not well known enough for negative prejudices to have been formed.
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Courtney wouldn’t finish a lap without crashing - then again mayby he could, because there aren’t any other cars in the field.
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May 29th, 2008 at 8:42 am
At first I thought this was going to be a dud, however, it seems that SBS have done some careful research and chosen some interesting presenters. Thank gawd there’s no ex-game show nongs.
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May 29th, 2008 at 8:46 am
i doubt the stig will be an active V8 supercar driver due to the fact that V8 drivers contracts are usually pretty bloody tight and most of them wouldn’t be allowed to do it. I would expect a non-current V8 driver, such as jason bargwana, craig baird or someone like that to get the role as the stig
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 8:48 am
When is is scheduled to be shown on TV? I’m missing Top Gear at the moment, but only a few more sleeps utntil the next series is shown (Melbourne)
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May 29th, 2008 at 8:54 am
The stig will be someone brought in from another planet using the inter-galactic highway.
Lets hope they have a large studio audience and some “real” stars to go in the reasonably priced car e.g.
Russell Crowe
Cate Blanchett
Thorpie
Warnie
Jen Hawkinns
Prince Harry
Jonny Howard
Mark Latham
&
Bob Brown
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 9:15 am
they need to have a V8 supercar driver in a reasonably priced car too just how the UK version put some F1 drivers through it. That was always entertaining
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May 29th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I’m actually a bit disappointed with the mix, to be honest.
Two racing drivers and a cartoonist who doesn’t impress me ever because he’s always been a tool when I’ve seen him interviewed.
I think we’re going to get very bored of Pizzatti and Cox winding each other up. Never mind, it could still go well if the negative vibes settle down.
It should go to air the week after the Olympics finish. SBS will spend a lot of valuable erectile dysfunction airtime pushing it between the synchronised swimming and whatever other dud sports SBS get that 7 have pushed off the table.
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May 29th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Im still not convinved that Australia can pull off a Top Gear, well any other country for that matter.
Top Gear IS Clarkson, May and Hammond. Not Pizzatti, Cox and Brown or any other team of budding race car drivers/journalists.
Going to have to see how it actually comes up when its on the air.
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I’m disappointed they didn’t choose me
but Steve is a top bloke and an ace driver, so I wish him all the best. He’s one of Porsche’s instructors and has a great sense of humour. The other two I haven’t met but both seem well suited to the job. I look forward to seeing the show soon on TV.
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Gents,
Let’s keep an open mind here. I think that SBS will run a pretty tight editorial of what the guys do so that it complies with the Topgear formula. It will be interesting to see the dynamics of the guys.
For the role of Stig, we can dismiss Amanda Vanstone due to the obvious issues (Maybe this is what Slugger and Mick want).
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May 29th, 2008 at 10:25 am
This show will only succeed if it is sufficiently different from the UK version to ‘feel’ Australian. The original is very much personality driven, as demonstrated by the team in the first series - very different feel indeed to the recent episodes. The most important thing is to give the series time (a couple of seasons) to develop its own style. There is a lot of goodwill among the viewing audience for this to be a winner. I wish them luck and good speed.
PS Does anybody know if SBS has a deal in place to send coals to Newcastle?
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May 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
They passed up on me, silly them.
Anyway, i need to work at TopGear in Italy.
I would soon be bored compare Falcodores every bloody day.
Unless……….
“Falcon glovebox vs Commodore glovebox”, that would be interesting!
Cheers
F-0
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Good luck, As long it has the same ‘wit’ as the UK one then its going to go well. I think the comments, jokes, funny tests, is the essence of Top Gear which Jeremy, Richard and James do so well and the fact they are , miss that point and it might as well be the same as the Glenn Ridge motor show.
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May 29th, 2008 at 11:51 am
You know what, who cares if it isnt as good as the original Top Gear from England?
If its anywhere remotely close, Ill love it. You know why? Because I love cars, and ill take whatever I can get from the mainstream media when it comes to them.
Rather this then big brother.
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
If you want unbiased news on cars, read a blog (like this one). I know I would rather do that then watch some old farts pretending they know something about cars (are they engineers are they?).
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I am really hoping this succeeds - let’s hope that they are allowed to be as un-politically correct as the British series…one of the biggest risks given it is SBS after all
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May 29th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Good call, Tom - I’m with you!
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May 29th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
KJ - how many of the people who work for CarAdvice are engineers?
I know Karl isnt, and Ive submitted work, and Im sure as hell not one either.
You dont need to be an engineer to pass on the passion of motor cars.
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May 29th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
As Tom said, it probably will never be as good as the UK version, but aslong as they don’t try and make it a copy of the UK version then that won’t matter! They need to make it as different as possible from the UK version (whilst still being Top Gear) or otherwise people will just be like “may as well just watch the UK version” but if its something completely different and unique, there is no reason why people won’t be able to love and enjoy watching both, regardless of which one they think is ultimately better
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May 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Actually, I tell you why I’m really annoyed - the casting call said you didn’t ‘necessarily’ need media experience.
All three of them have media experience and enough of it.
The casting call also said ‘you may not beHolden to another car company.’
What is it that Porsche makes? Oh, yeah, cars. So they’re a car company to which he is beholden. So he can’t test a Porsche or it’s a conflict of interest.
I don’t mind that they’ve picked a 47 year old man (hmm…Clarkson), a slightly younger one (hmmm…May) and a mid to late-thirties man (hmmm…Hammond).
Stephen said maybe I wanted Amanda Vanstone,,,not quite. What I wanted was what the casting call said they wanted. We got what we would have got without the casting call. So 4000 (or 3997 people) have had their time wasted and their trust betrayed. Now it just looks like a hollow fishing expedition. That’s what I’m annoyed about.
I still think it will be a terrific show because the people behind it are top notch. It’s certainly better than bloody Big Brother and if they don’t keep cloning the UK one, it wouldn’t matter that it was called Top Gear or not, it will just be a good show.
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Agree 100% Slugger
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May 29th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I understand what Slugger is saying in terms of then always going down a path which effectively ruled out 3500 of the 4000 applicants…. I was one like many of you - and whilst I never really expected a chance, I will say I am pleased they didnt go for famour TV personalities..
I reckon they have from a visual perspective - typical aussie blokes…rather than the over the top personalities out there.
Whilst I totally agree its an uphill battle to compete against the brilliant UK version, i wish them and the show all the best
I will definately watch the show - as there is little to enjoy on air by was of cars - so as long as its better than 5th gear - Im a fan already…
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May 29th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Wow, things are looking up. Steve is sorta like hamster in the way he will obviously like porsches better than any other car in the world. When they show this on tv, they had better put on a Friday night, i suspect this would rate better than Friday night games with big brother contestants. And after the aussie topgear put the UK topgear straight after to keep people watching.
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May 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
friday night is a terrible idea
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May 29th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I hope they dont just focus on holden and ford … coz that would b really boring!!!
and for star in a reasonably priced car, they should choose a Proton Savvy…. cant get any cheaper than that…
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May 29th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
it will be good as long as every episode is not a ford vs holden mix
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May 29th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Ah yeah, a aussie car show that doesn’t focus on the two australian car brands, and the most popular performance cars on our road.
Really likely morons, grow up.
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May 29th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Sadly I don’t think anyone under 35 had a chance of scoring the gig, I don’t know why they even bothered putting it out to the “public”. Two are racing car drivers and the other works for a paper….
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May 29th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Funny - this weeks challenge for Brown, Cox, and Pizzati will be to convert a Camry into a decent family saloon and drive across Australia
(Report)
May 29th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Yes! They didn’t choose Grant denyer!
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May 30th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I don’t want to come across as an arse, as it’s clear I didn’t get into the AusTopGear lineup. But really? Did anyone (and everyone) they opened the door to audition have a chance when you have well know people up there that are involved in motorsports of some sort, and an arse of a cartoonist thrown in to mix it up?
I’m disappointed that there is no “John Parker from Penrith, whom has spent his life around hotted up cars”.
I know, John probably has the personality of a brick wall. But when you open up auditions to the public, you’d surely expect that before even putting it on paper.
Ah well, I can’t wait to see the show. I hope they realise that expectations are high. At least from me. So I hope they don’t TRY too hard to be something they can’t.
SteveC
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May 30th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Skitza, could be something to do with building of corporate relations in the background to why they were chosen, Media and Automotive sport… wonder who the sponsors of the show are…? (As long its not a car manufacturer lol)
I don’t think this show competes against teh UK version is a Australian market supplement, targeting the australian market. Targeting cars from the Australian showroom rather than cars only found in europe etc..
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May 30th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Im glad they finally confirmed the names, they sound like the right guys for the job
Although, I hope they dont just spend every episode reviewing Holdens & Fords.
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