Toby Moody is a British sports commentator focused on

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

. He was for many years the worldwide voice of the MotoGP series on Eurosport TV, and in 2012, lead commentator on the

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

for

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, cult classic ...

. In 2014 he will commentate for ITV4 on the British Superbike Championship. Many

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

racing fans would know him as the man who provided nightly, half-hour reports from the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

for

Speed Channel Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as aut ...

during the month of January. In 2005,

Outdoor Life Network OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) is a Canadian English-language Category A specialty channel. OLN primarily broadcasts factual-based and adventure-related reality programming aimed at male audiences. OLN is wholly owned by Rogers Sports & ...

picked up the American broadcasting rights to the event, but they opted for an American host. His commentating career began when he was 20 at the Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb in the UK. It led to hosting the 1995

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in late June or ...

, and the 1996 500cc World Championship Grand Prix. When not commentating, he is the MotoGP correspondent for the autosport.com website, and hosts many manufacturer events/ press conferences for both the two and four wheeled interests including some F1 work at Monaco and at Silverstone in 2009. His background started as a former

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...

, starting out as one at the age of 16, working for the Benetton

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team and

Prodrive Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advanced technolo ...

during school holidays. This expanded to a PR job for

WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams (Formula One), Frank Williams and aut ...

, and then running the PR for the Nissan Rally Team in the UK, who won the British title twice in three years. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Moody is a member of the organising committee for the

Shelsley Walsh Shelsley Walsh is a small village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, on the western side of the River Teme. For administrative purposes it is presently located in the Teme Valley ward of the county’s Malvern Hills district. In the 2011 ...

hillclimb, runs the official website for the

British Hill Climb Championship The British Hill Climb Championship (BHCC) is the most prestigious Hillclimbing championship in Great Britain. Hillclimbing in the British Isles has a rich history, for example, the hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England is t ...

and drives a single seater when the time allows. Indeed, 2009 saw Moody claim the 600cc class record at the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, taking 0.08 seconds off the record, achieving a time of 29.31 seconds, but since then has lowered it slightly, to 29.14 on July 18.

References

External links

*
Toby's articles on autosport.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moody, Toby Motorsport announcers Living people Sports commentators Year of birth missing (living people)