Carl Cox at the 2024 La Fabrica Argentina.
For renowned international musicians, touring a small country like New Zealand typically ranks low on their priority list. Similarly, the idea of sponsoring grassroots sports is often an overlooked endeavour.
British DJ Carl Cox sees it differently and sponsors Kiwi sidecar teams Tracey Bryan and Jo Mickleson, Barry Smith and Stu Dawe and several other New Zealand motorsport drivers.
Despite the niche investment, Cox views it as an excellent financial opportunity.
“Why would I spend $10-to-15-million for a sticker on one Formula 1 car for a weekend?” Cox asked the Herald.
“Because of me and my profile and who I am, everyone expects me to be involved in Formula 1 or Moto GP but all I can hear is money, expense, sponsors, and I’m not doing that at all. But when someone says, do you want to run a sidecar team and it’s going to cost you roughly about 10,000 to 12,000 New Zealand dollars, that sounds more like it.”
Cox, a prominent DJ and electronic music producer, is known for his influential role in the global dance music scene since the late 1980s but beyond music, Cox has also been involved in sponsoring and supporting motorcycle racing and sidecar teams.
But how did the music icon end up engaged in the niche code?
It all started in 2013 when Cox was on a trip to Aotearoa where he stumbled across the Barry Smith and Robbie Shorter Sidecar Racing Team.
It brought him back to his childhood and his love for motorsport where he avidly followed various racing events such as sidecar racing at Brands Hatch and the Isle of Man TT. Despite his dedication to music, Cox has always maintained a keen interest in motorsport, even participating in drag racing himself.
A decade ago he took Smith and Shorter to the Isle of Man TT. Despite limited resources and no established structure, the team secured 11th place out of 45 teams for two consecutive years.
This triumph propelled the Carl Cox Motorsport team into the limelight, defying the absence of a website or formal setup.
From there the sponsorship group evolved into a powerhouse where Cox and his team expanded to sponsor athletes around the globe competing in motorcycle racing, supercars, and drag racing.
Today he continues to sponsor motorsport in New Zealand and around the world, including the two Kiwi women’s and men’s sidecar teams.
The 61-year-old acknowledged that his venture into sponsoring New Zealand grassroots sports might seem unconventional given his background. However, he elaborated to the Herald that there’s a compelling rationale behind his decision.
“Seeing the grassroots, when they’re racing you can go into the pits, you can speak to them – they’re really good, awesome people.
“The people with their families that have been racing for years don’t want much. At the end of the day any little bit helps to get them to where I believe they can, and should be.
“And that’s me, that’s where I fit in.”
Cox said his appreciation for the unique skill and talent required for the sport helped drive his involvement.
“I was in the Isle of Man when I had my sidecar passenger experience – which I will never do again.
“I was hanging on for dear life and couldn’t get my bum over,” Cox laughed.
“I had a newfound respect for what they do based on my experience.
“Can you imagine going round the Isle of Man – 32 miles of just sheer speed and ability and bravado it is unfathomable. It’s something to behold at the end of the day,” Cox said.
Despite his respect for the code, he’s not naive to the fact that interest in sidecars is declining.
“It’s diminishing before our very eyes – there’s not a lot of attention to sidecar racing.”
Cox believes part of this is because the newer generations have lost the thrill.
“It’s difficult now because we’re talking about another generation that are riding a push bike or a scooter and that’s the most exhilarating thing they can think of.
“If they want their kind of adrenaline fix they’ve got their computers, they’ve got their laptops, they go inside and they’re happy.”
But Cox exclaimed to the Herald that if he has a say in the future of the sport, he won’t let it go anywhere any time soon.
“I’m sticking my pitchfork in the grass so we’re not moving – we’re not going to go quietly.
“At the end of the day, I will still fight for the little guy and the opportunity to bring the attention to the sport.
“More than anything the sidecar efforts that people put in just need help to put it in the crosshairs of people based on what it actually is, what it entails and how important it is for motorsport, to still be alive today.
Cox said music will always be his top focus despite balancing motorsport alongside it for many years.
“I’ve been doing [music] for 45 years – I should be over it by now and I’m just not.”
He said balancing both his loves is full on – between testing race cars, creating and producing music and running his record label, Awesome Sound Wave.
“What I’m trying to do with my music and motorsports is to have a balance between the two, so they don’t encroach on each other in such a way which make sort of demands on myself from a health point of view.
“All the motorsport stuff is in the daytime and all the music stuff is in the nighttime and somewhere in the middle, I have to try and get in some sort of rest.
When he’s in New Zealand visiting his racers, he told the Herald, Cox always tries to schedule a couple of gigs.
But Cox said he wouldn’t change his hectic schedule as he encourages fellow top artists to consider investment where they can.
“Just get involved!
“Go see the races, see what you could do to try and get involved.
“For me, it was just a conversation to be had with certain teams and people.
“There was no preference for guys or girls, it was pure ability, pure passion, pure understanding of what was required and what was needed if I could help in any way.
“It all started with just helping a team out that just needed entry fees, just needed some oils, just needed some tyres – and that’s all you needed just to get a little bit further.”
Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She’s a keen footballer, passionate about women’s sport and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a fulltime journalist.
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