Auto Action – Like or Loath(merged AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!) - Page 5

rossp1 · 23 Oct 2003, 00:23 (Ref:760137)

GTR magic, PROCAR is already in the media business through PROCAR INTERNATIONAL SPORTS MEDIA and it,s subsidiary PRISM AVE.
PRISM AVE produces and distributes worldwide some 160 hour of content from PROCAR champ series,Bathurst24 hour,motorcycle racing ,speedway,drag racing,offshore and f1 powerboat racing and numerous other "motor sports".
programs like PROCAR CHAMP SERIES [7],SPEEDWEEK[sbs],INSIDE SPEED [foxsports],motorcycle,drags,and speedway[9] have far more influence than a V8 Supercar fan letter [AVESCO ACTION].
If they keep ****ing me off like this not only will we continue our boycott on current and future advertisng[2004],but we might just decide to launch a "free weekly" on all the motorsport news including AVESCO.
with over 200 teams running regularly at PROCAR rounds I am sure that we could get enough advertisers to accomodate the program.
Don,t you find it strange that AA has never published an interview with me although FOGARTY did one at CLIPSAL in 2001,and i took an hour out of my busy schedule to accomodate him at his request.
It didn,t even make the print.
Anyway enough venting. I view motorport internet websites such as www.procar.com.au tentenths.com www.v8central.com and www.conrod.com.au as a far more effective form of communication than print media these days.
Sure there are a lot of budding motorport amateur journaists in these sites than in the professional rags,but the news is current and topical.A lot of the content in AA is gossip and fans can get this information much more readily on motorsport websites and whatsmore almost for free.
In the month of november around 600,000 fans will visit PROCAR,s websites and whats more because it,s worldwide the information has a lot more impact. To get the same impact through AA we would have to wait at least 40 months[based on current circulation figures].
I don,t at the end of the day think it really matters wheteher they cover us or not.
Now I have posted a few possible scenarios here and i would be interested in ten-tenths forum memebers viewpoint.
Mark , I am sorry if i come across as negative towards your magazine but you guys are missing out on a fabulous opportunity here.
Most motorport fans in OZ follow all motorport as evidenced by the support that PROCAR recieves in this forum which is basically a V8 Supercar forum.
Don,t ignore the Australian Fan Base or do you have aspirations of covering Chinese Motorsport in the future.

**GTRMagic** · 23 Oct 2003, 00:39 (Ref:760144)

The annoying part of AA is that the new news brought to the table is for the most part not new, not concise, not interpreting the impact of particular new findings to the sport, to the teams concerned and the like.

Some of the posts here, and at your own site are far better at doing some of that stuff... taking a snippet of info and trying to parlay that into something that could be much bigger.

What I always question is whether it is because AA dont understand the operational context of some information they are given, or are incapable of thinking strategically and getting away from the sensationalist approach to journalism.

Motorsport News is usually a lot better in this regard, asking difficult and ultimately questions to people in the news, and discovering new facts that other publications largely ignore.

I get driven up the wall with AA's approach to a news story, fill 1000 words with the same concept 3 or times makes you ignore the stories, and the lack of closure and pure supposition isnt news its speculation, arguably no better than what is achieved in here or elsewhere.

The old 'Auto Fiction' remains the standard setter as the "New Idea" of motorsport reporting, while MN attempts to create an Autosport type magazine with a substantially smaller budget.

I dont for a minute want AA to die, I want it to get better... and it seems it isnt headed there just yet...

Branagan · 23 Oct 2003, 01:41 (Ref:760163)

Just before Glendenning and I hop into the Motorsport News Lear jet for the trip to Indy (sound of publisher collapsing) I thought it would be timely to post something here.

Again, it is interesting to read the comments, both positive and negative, re both magazines. Whether we get bricks or bouquets thrown at us, it is always good to have feedback. We are genuinely interested in knowing what people think; usually, we get mainly positive comments to our faces while the less-than-positive comments (astonishing but true) pass behind our backs. We think that we have a pretty good magazine, even if we do not feel the need to tell everyone that in every single issue.

Once again, understand that Motorsport News will not be going weekly. There is, simply, not a big enough market for us to justify doing it. And it would not make a huge difference if we did. If you look at the motorsport calendars for 2004, you will see that most of the major events, like Formula One and V8 Supercar rounds, fall on the same weekend, so the time line from event reporting and news to publishing is not that long, regardless of whether we publish weekly or fortnightly. In other words, MNews will have the news out as quickly as we can get it done.

People can always make comparisons with the way we do things to how AA does its things – different people, different strokes. I still believe that MNews stacks up pretty well, news-wise, with any other publication. As an example, we had the story about Super Cheap Racing's future straight after Bathurst, AA had it a week later, with an 'Exclusive' tag. Hmmmm. Maybe I should get out the Oxford dictionary and look up what 'Exclusive' means again. And our coverage of the Japanese GP came out straight after the race, not a week later.

Because of that, we prefer to have our tech F1 stuff from the weekend just passed; we prefer to have chats with drivers right after the races; we prefer to dissect what just happened and what it means. All that makes deadlines a lot of hard work but hey, that's all part of the fun.

And, just to warn everyone, I am reliably informed that there will be babes in bikinis at Indy and I cannot control what our photographers will shoot ALL weekend …

TSR · 23 Oct 2003, 02:09 (Ref:760174)

I full hartly agree with rossp1 AA is only a V8 mouthpiece.

Mark Webber · 23 Oct 2003, 02:55 (Ref:760196)

Its better no doubt (the format ) but its still Auto Fiction to me .
MotorsportNews kills it

RaceTime · 23 Oct 2003, 04:21 (Ref:760218)

Well one more nail (for me anyway) in AA's coffin.

Just opened up to their Race Guide for the Lexmark Indy 300...

According to AA and their 'When' Race Schedule - there are only 3 categories racing this weekend - Champ Cars, V8's and Nations Cup.

No mention in the schedule of V8 Brutes, GT Performance of Carrera Cup.

Wake up AA - if you can't do something right - don't bother attempting it....

**GTRMagic** · 23 Oct 2003, 04:36 (Ref:760224)

But it has pretty girls on the front to try and confuse buyers into thinking its a pukka MENS magazine

isnt that enough?

Maybe we are too greedy, wanting coverage of motorsport events all the time...

RaceTime · 23 Oct 2003, 04:43 (Ref:760226)

They have definately beefed up the size of images to cover up for less text.

But - to make sure I don't upset Crash on this because he believes AA gives better coverage - we have a little project currently going on here.

A comparison on column-inches for both AA and MSN for ther past few issues and the next few.

Items being looked at are quantity of text in articles in relation to overall printed paper - but more importantly - relevance of articles ie are they this weeks issues, last weeks events or from a month ago....

A RaceNews Investigation..

**GTRMagic** · 23 Oct 2003, 04:45 (Ref:760227)

I can see it now... RaceNews Action... a weekly publication covering local and international motorsport

Hot off the presses the stories of the day, with the indepth analysis and opinions of the people that actually have a clue about the sport....

Nah, the market isnt quite ready for another one

mixxer · 23 Oct 2003, 04:46 (Ref:760229)

Surely there is enough racecar tech type articles that could be used as filler for when there is a lull in race action, it is supposed to be a Motorsport publication.

**GTRMagic** · 23 Oct 2003, 04:50 (Ref:760231)

There would be if the publications could bother chasing them... teams, people in teams, engine development, A day in the life of...

The potential is unlimited...

Wizzby · 23 Oct 2003, 05:00 (Ref:760238)

and if worse came to worse they could actually print a fiction section! Like a parody of the whole series...

**GTRMagic** · 23 Oct 2003, 05:06 (Ref:760243)

AA already have a fiction section, starts at page one and goes till they run out of paper!

Grimace · 24 Oct 2003, 01:52 (Ref:761433)

Quote:

Originally posted by Wizzby
I've rung them three times, got an answering machine each time and still there's no reply

Wizzby leave a message for Fogarty himself-go straight to the top-they are at most race meetings if you can get a friend to call on them in the Media Room at a meeting. Eastern Creek is the most likely, unless you know someone at Indy this weekend!!!

Wizzby · 24 Oct 2003, 07:37 (Ref:761600)

Hmmm, I'm going to Eastern Creek actually....

Thanks for that!

pete55 · 24 Oct 2003, 11:05 (Ref:761766)

RossP regarding lack of Procar news, race reports etc.
I note how you have opened up on this forum site about the subject but when i bought it up in the Procar Forum you didn't reply to me even though i asked for your opinion. Why the change of heart now?
You answered postings about the Monaro til you must have been blue in the face but not on this subject. Maybe you have finally seen what i and others saw a long time ago. Not all of us want to see V8 Supercars and nothing else in our print motorsport mags.
As for Avesco Action they have one more week to decide what they want to be, a complete coverage of especially australian motorsport or a mag with V8 Supercars and two whole pages of grid girls, or after 30 years i won't be buying it anymore.

Mofo · 29 Oct 2003, 06:21 (Ref:766524)

Just when we thought it wasn't possible, the latest AA has sunk to even greater depths. The V8 coverage is about 500 words, barely a news story. What is going on there???

**GTRMagic** · 29 Oct 2003, 06:30 (Ref:766528)

Not even the glammas in the centrefold can save it this week...

Levi · 29 Oct 2003, 06:34 (Ref:766530)

And yet you still bought it?????????????????

**GTRMagic** · 29 Oct 2003, 06:42 (Ref:766533)

Of course, I didnt have time this morning to stand in the newsagent and 'read the articles' although on reflection it would have taken about 5 minutes

prn 31 · 29 Oct 2003, 06:56 (Ref:766545)

Actually the article by respected journalist Michael Lynch "Inside the V8 Money Machine" was almost worth the purchase cost. Indeed this is worth a seperate post - just watch GTR go

Still even this well researched article looks like it has been "cut." This is what happens when Foges stays up at Surfers to lie on a beach for a week and gives Timbo the reins.

**GTRMagic** · 29 Oct 2003, 07:28 (Ref:766563)

It is interesting for sure prn31, but again, is something written in the style of the v8x story series of wanting to start a team from scratch.

It is frightfully blase to suggest that racing budgets can drift between $1m and $2m per car, without understanding the differences in infrastructure in different operations.

For example, a team like TKR that buys in technology rather than specifically developing it, is likely to cost less per car to run than say a CPR or GRM, which has the equipment to make components and retains a development budget for just about every part on the car.

A simple summary of a theoretical operating budget and sponsor income may have been nice, perhaps nobody wanted to give such information away. Lucky my calculator works though huh

And to suggest that merchandise for any team other than SHRT contributes massively to the budget is a misconception. There are marketing advantages in having the great unwashed wearing the team clobber, and it is this angle that generally drives the willingness of teams to have sales of merchandise (and the cash generated, which can help in the timing of inflows from sponsors)

sevi · 29 Oct 2003, 07:34 (Ref:766570)

GTR why would it bother you what the publications had in them, you know everything.

dynamik gal · 29 Oct 2003, 07:35 (Ref:766571)

I wish they brought back the true Auto Focus, the photos that some of the photographers capture at rounds are amazing. Anyone just has to look at the shot on the inside of V8X this month to see a pretty super shot of one of the DJR cars' rear wing jamming into the BJR car and it shows full flight of the glass everywhere. Those snapshots are worth a thousand commentary words. Bring back the real talent. Not the cheap stuff. There are plenty of other mags to do that.

**GTRMagic** · 29 Oct 2003, 07:38 (Ref:766574)

I 'know' in your words primarily because I actually take the time to research, to ask a wide range of people, as opposed to assuming the work of one writer whose words take up less than 25% of the page space, is 100% factually correct.

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