Group C Celebration

[krt917]

Hi all,

It's been ages since I have posted - far too long actually - but I hope this is OK. Not sure whether this should go here, in the Armchair section or History so feel free to move it wherever!

I just wanted to flag up that we've done a Group C celebration in Autosport magazine and on the website this week, to mark the 30th anniversary of the start of this great period.

For those of you who feel there is too much F1 on the cover these days (for reasons I won't go into now!), it's all Group C this week.

I wouldn't normally say this, but if you want to see more retro/sportscar stuff in future, please support us with this issue! I hope you enjoy it - it was a pleasure to put it together.

All the best,
Kevin Turner
Autosport Features Editor

[Thaw Daggerslash]

You guys sure are getting desperate with this F1 summer break aren't you? Last week 1982, this week Group C. Oh well, it's nice and they are a good read - although I'm not expecting it to continue at all once F1 gets going again.

[krt917]

From a personal point of view, I think the F1 summer break has been a great opportunity!

Glad you thought they were a good read.

Of course, once F1 kicks in again then it will be business as usual, but if these work it will open up a nice range of possibilities for the future.

[Lorenzo S]

That's really brilliant news and look forward to receiving my sub. I am one of those subscribers that has complained about the F1 centric coverage of Autosport and hope that you will be giving more coverage to other sports than F1 in the future.

It is great to see Group C on the cover but the layout still doesn't do much for me. It looks far too much like a newspaper front page; way too many little pictures and multiple banner headlines - it's a mess. Remember the front page when Jaguar won Le Mans in 1990? Now that was a classic. The 1970's and 80's covers were so much classier.

[old man]

Yes, big shock when Management produced this on return from Morrisons, guest editor Derek Bell, great stuff, interested in sales figures though both for this week and last week. Not a sniff of F1 on the front cover, guest editor living dangerously?

[Adam43]

Alright kdr, I'll buy it.

Originally Posted by Thaw Daggerslash

You guys sure are getting desperate with this F1 summer break aren't you? Last week 1982, this week Group C. Oh well, it's nice and they are a good read - although I'm not expecting it to continue at all once F1 gets going again.

Probably should have F1 on the cover when a race has happened, to be fair.

[Adam43]

Well I would buy it if the PayPal worked.
"please try again later..."
Cock.

[porman]

Excellent news!

I pretty much lost interest in Autosport years ago for reasons that have already been mentioned by others.

I hope you guys keep it up in the future. There is more than enough room in the magazine for in-depth coverage of sportscar racing and developments.

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by krt917

Hi all,

It's been ages since I have posted - far too long actually - but I hope this is OK. Not sure whether this should go here, in the Armchair section or History so feel free to move it wherever!

I just wanted to flag up that we've done a Group C celebration in Autosport magazine and on the website this week, to mark the 30th anniversary of the start of this great period.

For those of you who feel there is too much F1 on the cover these days (for reasons I won't go into now!), it's all Group C this week.

I wouldn't normally say this, but if you want to see more retro/sportscar stuff in future, please support us with this issue! I hope you enjoy it - it was a pleasure to put it together.

All the best,
Kevin Turner
Autosport Features Editor

Well done Kevb - I know how difficult a sell that musy have been

GG

[porman]

Just noticed your user name krt917. Sounds like your heart is in the right place.

[Adam43]

Hurrah, PayPal woke up and I have the edition.

Looks good and the the brief bit I've read is well written.

[Aysedasi]

Great news - I shall definitely be heading to the shops tomorrow on the way to Silverstone....

And Adam, since when did we have to be fair........?

[Adam43]

Endurance racing snob

[davyboy]

This week's and last week's Autosport have been totally brilliant ! I haven't enjoyed the mag as much in a long time. I guess that's probably an indictment of my age !

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Endurance racing snob

Yep, and proud of it!

[Thaw Daggerslash]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Alright kdr, I'll buy it. Probably should have F1 on the cover when a race has happened, to be fair.

Well, that's as maybe, but when Autosport's so called "sister" magazine F1 Racing caters to that nicely, I've always thought that Autosport should be the generic motorsport magazine that doesn't feature one championship so extensively.

For instance, last year I was disappointed that Autosport's "end of year" magazine focused extensively on F1, whereas in other years that had always been a must read for me with the top fifty driver count down, photos of the year and other interesting content. Didn't really understand the need in that when the same content would appear in F1 Racing, and imagine my annoyance, especially when I buy Autosport pretty much every week, to discover the top 50 driver count down etc were only accessible by being a subscriber to the website? Flamin' cheek!

Still, ends and means I guess. Hopefully krt917 is still reading this and I'll be happier this year.

[JimW]

I bought this week's edition because of the coverage (and before I read this!)

Well done and thank you.

Jim

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Yep, and proud of it!

It is about the balance. This may be overstating it a little, but I've boycotted Autosport for years after I cancelled my subscription. Not totally because it was dominated by F1, after all I follow it, but also because of the standard of writing and editorial direction.

Less proportion of F1, yes. However, I do realise it would be daft for Autosport not to feature F1 prominently on the front after a race. Maybe Le Mans should be an exception, but the other branches just don't draw them in.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Adam43

It is about the balance. This may be overstating it a little, but I've boycotted Autosport for years after I cancelled my subscription. Not totally because it was dominated by F1, after all I follow it, but also because of the standard of writing and editorial direction.

Less proportion of F1, yes. However, I do realise it would be daft for Autosport not to feature F1 prominently on the front after a race. Maybe Le Mans should be an exception, but the other branches just don't draw them in.

The standard of writing is very good now. The almost permanent F1 front cover is an irritation to us all, including the Autosport staffers [although they probably can't say that openly], but such is the dominance of F1 over all other forms of motorsport today... if there's anything other than an F1 cover, sales are dramatically affected. As the saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover... and in the case of Autosport, the internal content envelopes all areas of our sport, just as it's always done.

We ought to support the mag, I've been a continuous subscriber since the the early 1980s, as if we don't it will perish as has been the case with many other motoring publications in recent years.

[isynge]

Been really pleased with the two retrospective issues that have come out, especially with the coordinated release of content on the web, which combined provides a huge corpus of quality reading material.

The acid test for me is how long I actually spend reading a magazine, and in this case, having spent a decent amount of yesterday evening on the sofa going through Autosport I think we can safely say it worked.

The one slight shortcoming for me was the 'failed cars' feature, which seemed a little hit and miss and a somewhat random selection (why, for instance, pick on the Kremer CK-5 and not the Joest 936C?).

This minor niggle notwithstanding congratulations to all involved in the issue, more like this please!

[rich07]

How much actual coverage of Group C is in there in the edition? We get the mag about a week later then you guys in UK so tossing up whether its worth keeping an eye out for.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by rich07

How much actual coverage of Group C is in there in the edition? We get the mag about a week later then you guys in UK so tossing up whether its worth keeping an eye out for.

A lot. About 36 of the 98 pages in the magazine are devoted to Group C... and Derek Bell is the guest editor. If you were a Group C fan, it's a must buy.

[MJones94]

I do not buy Autosport every week, but buy it on impulse whenever I see it in the shop. I missed the 82' special last week, which I was gutted about, but this Group C celebration issue looks even better!

[rich07]

Originally Posted by davyboy

A lot. About 36 of the 98 pages in the magazine are devoted to Group C... and Derek Bell is the guest editor. If you were a Group C fan, it's a must buy.

I thought it might've been half a dozen pages at best but a good third of the magazine-and that guest editor? Well Im bloody well sold! Thankyou.

[Buildtech]

Yep, looking forward to the Group C issue; but I haven't seen the Retro 82 magazine yet. We are two weeks behind in this part of Australia. These will be the first copies purchased in a long time. Not interested in Sky Sports type overkill of F1 or lengthy reports on Indycars anymore and I have been reading the magazine for the pass three decades.
I currently have to pay the equivalent of seven pounds twenty an issue and no, I don't think it's worth it either. Even if I still lived in the UK, I wouldn't be buying Autosport every week. However the website has it's advantages in my situation.
Well done KT on these and other recent features; a welcome breath of fresh air plus you have secured my seven quid for the next two weeks.

Cheers.