Auto Fiction stuff up again

[TSR]

In today LATEST edition of Auto Fiction which claims to to have THE FASTEST NEWS FIRST, I noticed that they ran a story of the Phillip Island Histroics (a two page spread) from two weeks ago, yet they had nothing about last weekend club racing from Wakefeild Park , and I know there was someone from AF there as I followed them into the circut.

Now I know this not the most important topic, but for the grassroots drivers who turn up and run and then get nothing reported from our so called Top selling Racing News mag I think it is a disgrace.

I do not race cars, but I do race in another formula, to which we have no coverage, so I can symathise with the races who raced last weekend.

No wonder Motorsport News is a far better mag.

[kramer]

AA will have the Wakefield Park report in a week or two. Haven't you noticed that this bit is always a couple of weeks behind?


Kramer

[Matthew Ronke]

I notice David Twomey post here. He had a good mag that covered these sort of events in a fair amount of detail. I have not seen the magazine around so I can't remeber what it was called. Perhaps we could persuade hime to give some extra special coverage on the AMRS if we all buy his magazine.

[TCR-028]

Maybe it's because many of the NSW categories are featured in "State Racer" - which is an insert in Motorsport News and does a round report from each category etc along with pointscores for the State series ??

"State Racer" is distributed in all NSW editions of Motorsport News i believe, usually the second week after each event when photos, pointscores etc have been sent in...

Cheers,
Boppa

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by TSR

Now I know this not the most important topic.

This is the root of the problem, which has always been present at AA. What they believe is important eg. you will get blanket, wall to wall and some times pointless, for the sake of it coverage of Supertaxi's and F1. While not giving much at all to any other category trying to exist.

Originally Posted by TSR

No wonder Motorsport News is a far better mag.

Yes, yes it is.

This is the root of the problem, which has always been present at AA. What they believe is important eg. you will get blanket, wall to wall and some times pointless, for the sake of it coverage of Supertaxi's and F1. While not giving much at all to any other category trying to exist.

You are obviously young and disallusioned . . . so much so, that you think V8s and F1 are a passing fad and that the motor racing public will soon wake up to themselves and go to REAL motor sport.

Alas despite the sentiments, the majority wouldn't know "Arthur from Martha" . . . nor care, and even the "purists" don't turn up when there is an alternative on offer . . .

[Just Do It!]

White Knight: That was brilliant. We might have to start calling you Sir!

Of course we laugh at those who think Supercars are only here for another year.
Luckily some of these people don't work in the financial markets!

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by White Knight

You are obviously young and disallusioned . . . so much so, that you think V8s and F1 are a passing fad and that the motor racing public will soon wake up to themselves and go to REAL motor sport.

Thanks for the character reference.

But there is coverage and then there is excessive coverage, and AA explores this. I'm not saying that these categories shouldn't be covered, what I'm saying that wall to wall coverage isnt neccessary nor needed.

Originally Posted by White Knight

Alas despite the sentiments, the majority wouldn't know "Arthur from Martha" . . . nor care, and even the "purists" don't turn up when there is an alternative on offer . . .

Do you think that coverage from the motor sport media could see a rise in these attendances.

[mixxer]

IMO it would suggest a rise in sponsor interest but not spectator, if you are a true supporter its about being there on race day, the magazine's are about news and results.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by mixxer

IMO it would suggest a rise in sponsor interest but not spectator, if you are a true supporter its about being there on race day, the magazine's are about news and results.

A rise in sponsor interest will result in more competitor interest. More cars, more drivers, more races = a rise in spectator interest.

We aren't getting the first important ingrediant.

[djt46]

MAtthew Ronke it was called SportsCar&Racer and it is currently in suspension because too few people would buy to have decent coverage of all the motor sport that the so called mainstream mags ignore. I worked for ACP and on AutoFiction, I know exactly what they think, and its not much unless you are V8SuperTaxis, F1 or a few other selected categories.
We wanted to cover real motor sport and did so very.
Hang on anyway as we might be back soon in a very accesible and electronic form.

[MickAU]

Every issue AA's National section is a week behind, obviously because of their publishing deadline. They would have to have the bulk of it at the printer ready to go at the end of the week, with the news pages being complete on Monday morning - that is probably why the bulk of the race reports from the previous weekends are at the back of the mag.

Nothing's been different with the State Racing in teh past in AA, so I don't know why you're complaining now...have a win did we??

Plus, MN comes out 2 wkly, so there coverage is 2 wks after the event anyway.

[djt46]

AA actually goes to the printer on Tuesday after the weekend so if they were serious about motor sport there would be no reason not to have reports written on Sunday night and Monday and ready for the printer on Tuesday. Truth is they skinflint on costs and use casuals and contributors who are paid peanuts so why should they bust a gut to get a story in when AA probably won't run it until the following week anyway because they need all the space they can get to report on Tony Cochrane's latest mumblings!

[cavvy]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

A rise in sponsor interest will result in more competitor interest. More cars, more drivers, more races = a rise in spectator interest.

We aren't getting the first important ingrediant.

Can you run that again, the first important ingredient is: ?

[D.R.T.]

A decent go and coverage from motorsport media in Aus. eg AA.

The formula

Coverage = sponsor interest = money = more cars/drivers = interest

[MickAU]

Far out DJT - you got to consider they have to print, dry then collate the 30,000 or whatever copies at however many pages aa is, before getting it to their distributor, therefore its not feasible to be printing every page at the last minute. I certainly can't see the bulk of the mag nbeing printed on Tues, late mon night/early tues morn yes.

[Rombles1]

It would be printed Heatset (no drying time required), and could quite possibly bind inline (depending who is doing it these days and what equipment they have). These sorts of silly turn-arounds are the norm on weekly magazines - as a scheduler for a Australia's biggest printer I know, they are a constant headache!

[TSR]

Originally Posted by MickAU

Every issue AA's National section is a week behind, obviously because of their publishing deadline. They would have to have the bulk of it at the printer ready to go at the end of the week, with the news pages being complete on Monday morning - that is probably why the bulk of the race reports from the previous weekends are at the back of the mag.

Nothing's been different with the State Racing in teh past in AA, so I don't know why you're complaining now...have a win did we??

Plus, MN comes out 2 wkly, so there coverage is 2 wks after the event anyway.

It is only 2.5hr from Wakefeild to Sydney, and AF were at Wakefeild, so the excuss that they missed the cut off would be BS.

[Mark Webber]

I spoke to AA and They said their are looking into it and where going to call me back

I'm still waiting.............................................................................................

[djt46]

as a former production editor of AA I have a pretty fair idea of just what's involved in getting it to press. Autosport in the UK do it every week and they get the importsant stuff from ervery category into most issues.ACP and AA will not spend the money on doing it because they know the mugs will still by it no matter what. Most of their audience just want to read about V8s and maybe a bit of F1 so why should they ry any harder.

[Mark Webber]

and this is whats wrong with Austrailian motorsport

[TSR]

Do not hold your breath Mark, but if MN was on the case you would of recived you call.

[mixxer]

So AA is just trying to look after the majority of its readers.............shame on them,
and no I dont purchase any of them.

[djt46]

nothing wrong with looking after the majority, just if you also look after the minority as well you might actually grow your audience and increase the knowledge of the majority at the same time

[Crash Test]

Originally Posted by djt46

...contributors who are paid peanuts so why should they bust a gut to get a story in when AA probably won't run it until the following week anyway because they need all the space they can get to report on Tony Cochrane's latest mumblings!

That cracks me up knowing the way that some other magazines look after their contributors