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23 Jan 2003, 14:18 (Ref:483514)
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#1 | |
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Rookie
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 71
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Autosport and the Sportscar Void!
Do you look at the magazine racks in the local bookstores. Scanning past all the F1, and Nascrap mags, flipping through Autosport, Racetech searching for a smidgen of sports car news. Surely among the Prototype and GT ranks there must be enough people to support a specialized magazine geared to us fans(in English). After all, someone must be attending these races. I'm Canadian, and there are two Canadian motorsports magazines covering a wide scope of racing. However the upper Wisconsin lawnmower runoffs are of little interest to me. And only a page or two is devoted my interests. I can't offer too much critism against Autosport magazine, as they have provided me with more news over the years than any other source. And I always look forward to their Lemans Preview/Review issues. I've heard all your critism of the magazine and think perhaps it's more just the reflection of the sportscar void and Autosport is the convenient scapegoat. Perhaps they shouldn't do top 50 lists. But give them a break. They are playing to their strongest demographic.
The last attempt at a sportscar magazine(damned if I can remember the name) that hit the magazine racks was well over 12 bucks by the time it reached Vancouver. Autosport rolls in at about 6 bucks. It seemed more like the stale information you got in a race program. And never quite caught on. To all the editors and publishers around, perhaps a more lively, detailed and broader(Lemans,ALMS,FIA GT and so on) attempt should be made. Perhaps a bit less expensive too. Just look at all this lively discussion, all these threads in Ten Tenths. This is your demographic, this is the Sportscar Void! |
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23 Jan 2003, 14:50 (Ref:483566)
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#2 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 5,147
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Le Mans Series and Sports Car Racing magazine died of neglect a little over a year ago. I was subscribed, and now get Racer (I was shunted there instead of getting a refund). I won't be renewing.
I've found that the content of dailysportscar provides way more insight than they could cram into the pages of a monthly magazine. My only beef is that you can't read it in the loo. (Maybe I need a computer in there!) Oh, and back issues. I keep mine. They're working on that... |
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__________________
... Since all men live in darkness, who believes something is not a test of whether it is true or false. I have spent years trying to get people to ask simple questions: What is the evidence, and what does it mean? -Bill James
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23 Jan 2003, 14:57 (Ref:483575)
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#3 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 5,147
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Also, Brant, have you seen "Le Mans Racer" anywhere? I haven't, and I got some 10-10thers to send me the Le Mans Classic issue. I understand a little French, but I'm still struggling with it. But, boy, the glossy pictures are nice.
The reason I ask if you've seen it is because, on the cover, it has prices in euros, Swiss francs, and $Cdn. (!) I'm guessing it's available in Montreal. I haven't been to a top-flight magazine store in Toronto in quite a while (Chapters/Indigo definitely do NOT count). |
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__________________
... Since all men live in darkness, who believes something is not a test of whether it is true or false. I have spent years trying to get people to ask simple questions: What is the evidence, and what does it mean? -Bill James
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23 Jan 2003, 15:39 (Ref:483614)
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#4 | ||
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Registered User
Rookie
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 32
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Wow $6 for Autosport...Borders and Barnes & Nobles robs me $8.50 now...the price seems to increase every couple months.
Another good magazine I believed published by the same company is Racecar Engineering...every few months it seems to have a good sportscar feature. Dailysportscar.com is still the best. |
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23 Jan 2003, 16:52 (Ref:483667)
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#5 | ||
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Racer
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 469
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You have to face the fact that as far as main stream is concerned is that in the US if it ain't Nascar/IRL and to a lesser extent CART then no-one gives a rats, in the UK it is similar however the whole country seems, if the Magazines are to be believed, is only interested in F1 & British Touring Cars (or TAXI's) and the occasional rallying.
For a magazine to make any money it has to be read by the widest possible audience and therefore will focus on the lowest common denominator. Hell According to Motorsport News the recent F1 changes are NEWS and they don't include the more recent changes readers of that publication won't get anything till next Wednesday. Therefore if you want reliable and varied motorsport news stick the to web! |
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23 Jan 2003, 18:36 (Ref:483745)
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#6 | |
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Racer
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 381
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Niche subject magazines seem to be disappearing - not just in motorsport.
Forget a paper copy. It's too expensive to produce and the advertising market is non existent. Online versions are the future. DailySportsCar provides a lot of information and does it's best but of course we all want lots more... Maybe in a few years or so we'll all have broadband and can watch decent web footage of Spa 24h or Sebring, etc. ;-) |
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23 Jan 2003, 19:26 (Ref:483779)
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#7 | |
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Veteran
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 1,206
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I've thought about this too and agree that whilst the online stuff (like Ayse's site here) is priceless, I'd love an affordable sportscar-only rag. Maybe a four-language (Japanese, French, UK English, Spanish) approach would be the way to do it.....
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23 Jan 2003, 19:31 (Ref:483781)
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#8 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 10,241
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How much is $8.50 in £'s?
Over in England we get Autosport for £2.80 |
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23 Jan 2003, 19:58 (Ref:483800)
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#9 | ||
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Registered User
Rookie
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 32
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$8.50 American Dollars...a one year subscription is something like $200...kinda of a rip off.
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23 Jan 2003, 20:27 (Ref:483812)
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#10 | |||
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Veteran
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 5,147
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Quote:
If you go to ewacars.com, you can get back issues for $US 5 (= £3.10). A subscription is $US 179 = £110.40 Last edited by paul-collins; 23 Jan 2003 at 20:32. |
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__________________
... Since all men live in darkness, who believes something is not a test of whether it is true or false. I have spent years trying to get people to ask simple questions: What is the evidence, and what does it mean? -Bill James
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24 Jan 2003, 00:14 (Ref:484050)
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#11 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: Feb 1999
Posts: 12,451
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Chapter/Indigo charge $8.50 Canadian (3.40 British) per issue; a subscription would be about $500.00 (200 British pounds) which is about what it costs to buy it at the news stand.
Paul, the "French Newsstand" which is called Maison de la Presse on the sign, is a good place to find sports car magazines that are reasonably up to date. I always amuse myself by reversing all the racing magazines with TGF's face on them because I really can't stand to browse at a magazine rack with that face smirking at me from every angle. The coverage of sports car races in Autosport is pitiful; two pages at the most and usually those two pages devoted solely to Audi. (Of course we NEED ten pages hymning Formula One and bowing down to Ferrari ... NOT.) What to do about it? I don't know. Publish our own magazines in pdf? |
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__________________
"If we won all the time, we'd be as unpopular as Ferrari, and we want to avoid that. We enjoy being a team that everybody likes." Flavio Briatore
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24 Jan 2003, 00:28 (Ref:484063)
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#12 | |||||
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Veteran
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 5,147
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Quote:
Quote:
 Quote:
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__________________
... Since all men live in darkness, who believes something is not a test of whether it is true or false. I have spent years trying to get people to ask simple questions: What is the evidence, and what does it mean? -Bill James
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24 Jan 2003, 08:58 (Ref:484262)
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#13 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 3,400
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There's a lot of love in this room!!
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24 Jan 2003, 12:07 (Ref:484390)
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#14 | ||
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Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 3,580
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Good old 10/10s - I wonder how it would look in orange
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Oops
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