[Magazines] Autosport revamp 2013

[davyboy]

The March 7, 2013 issue of Autosport dropped through my letterbox this morning. It's undergone another makeover and I'm not sure I'm altogether happy with it.

While the design changes are fine... they seem to mirror the style of other magazines these days... the apparent content changes aren't. It is literally floor to ceiling F1. You have to scour the magazine for content on anything outside F1. The reason I say 'apparent' here is because the magazine is titled F1 2013 Guide. Maybe it has more F1 this week because of that. However if this balance shift is representative of the future of Autosport, I'll be signing off as a subscriber of over 30 years... and with a very heavy heart too.

Hopefully somebody from the mag will contribute to the thread here and elaborate on the racing category content balance of the 'why' that Charles Bradley talks about in his intro.

[Bodysnatcher]

Lapsed 20 year+ subscriber here, last weeks issue was the first I've missed in nearly 25 years.

Autosport somehow could'nt get money from my bank account, the instruction that's been fine for 20 years - I confirmed my details with Haymarket - still would'nt work for them - & I could'nt think of enough reasons to carry on when the letter came asking me to initiate a new dd. I'll probably get the occasional copy after particularly interesting races, but no more 51 issues a year.

The usual excess of speculative F1 stuff before the season starts did provide that final push. Your description of todays issue will not have me rushing to WHSmiths.

[chunder]

As with most magazines these days, charging that much for something that can be read in a matter of minutes is the reason I dont buy it anymore.

Magazines are simply not value for money when you can usually get the same news, elsewhere for free and with the same quotes, coz guess what they are all press releases a lot of the time.

And then they will have the cheek to say their news is expertly written and put together! Ok some of it is, but is it really worth the price?

Some say yes, but a lot say no to magazines these days, sadly they are considered by most a luxury item

So, I will add is charging pretty much the same for a non paper copy, that is incredulous!

[The Fat Clerk]

I stopped subscribing a few years ago, the only ones I still buy are all monthlys: Motorsport, Octane & Karting.

[M Greenslade]

Why doesn't Autosport rename itself to 'F1 Sport', it would be more appropriate, I gave up taking it nearly 20 years ago when I gave up marshalling F1, there is no longer a decent magazine for Club Motorsport.......

Bladders....

[JimW]

Originally Posted by M Greenslade

Why doesn't Autosport rename itself to 'F1 Sport', it would be more appropriate, I gave up taking it nearly 20 years ago when I gave up marshalling F1, there is no longer a decent magazine for Club Motorsport.......

Bladders....

I buy the occasional issue, usually because I want to know something in the club scene. Has the National news section disappeared completely?

Regards

Jim

[The SpeCTator]

The content this week is hyped up for the start of F1 season.
I called their office to see if this was going to be the norm from hereonin because if so, I'm out
They assure me the balance will be restored and the rear Club Autosport section will grow as the season starts.
Also the "stickers" will be in next weeks edition.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by The SpeCTator

The content this week is hyped up for the start of F1 season.
I called their office to see if this was going to be the norm from hereonin because if so, I'm out
They assure me the balance will be restored and the rear Club Autosport section will grow as the season starts.
Also the "stickers" will be in next weeks edition.

I sincerely hope you're right. We'll see.

While we're on the subject of the revamp, I do agree that the magazine should drop the 'what' and the news stuff [because the net has rendered any periodical obsolete] and focus on the why... background behind things.

However, I wonder whether they ought to rethink the purpose of the mag entirely and make it more the motor sport equivalent of Fortune Magazine, National Geographic etc... These are periodicals that explore a subject after the news frenzy has blown over... in far greater depth and with thorough investigation and real inside knowledge. If indeed the magazine did go that direction, is there a need to publish every week ? Wouldn't it be better if it became a monthly ? Better still is there a need to have a paper based version at all ? Could they instead publish one or two of these insights every week on the chargeable Autosport + ?

Lots of food for thought there.

[Adam43]

Why is harder to do that what. Are they up to it?

I do think that they should continue with the news. I subscribe to The Week, that has the week's news summarised from real papers. This fulfills the dual role of having all the news and going into a bit more depth. This is useful for when I haven't had chance to read the papers during the week and isn't always an immediate reaction to their coverage. I don't have the time to always read everything online, so an up to date summary weekly would be ideal for me.

Of course Autosport magazine shouldn't be just a summary they should have quality journalists with background and knowledge who you want to read.

[Mercia49]

Just 8 pages that are not about F1 or ads. 128 page F1 preview - Dull navel gazing and brain dead PR soundbites. It doesn't even start for 10 days. This is an issue of F1 racing.

Nice picture of Stuart Kestenbaum's Macon to end on. Goodbye Marcus.

18 August 1969 - 7 March 2013

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Why is harder to do that what. Are they up to it?

I do think that they should continue with the news. I subscribe to The Week, that has the week's news summarised from real papers. This fulfills the dual role of having all the news and going into a bit more depth. This is useful for when I haven't had chance to read the papers during the week and isn't always an immediate reaction to their coverage. I don't have the time to always read everything online, so an up to date summary weekly would be ideal for me.

Of course Autosport magazine shouldn't be just a summary they should have quality journalists with background and knowledge who you want to read.

They've been doing the weekly news summary thing in print for some time and I guess it's no longer working for them or their readers ? Either that or autosport.com has superceded it these days ? I don't know. In any event they've decided to reduce emphasis on the 'what' in favour of the 'why'. I don't have a problem with that as I consume my news from elsewhere and in a more immediate fashion, so what I get from Autosport in that respect is superfluous.

My point is, if they are to focus on the 'why', they need to have a ground up rethink on how that should be done... and that includes the format of the publication or even whether it should exist in print at all.

At the end of the day, I would rather read one well written, FACTUALLY BASED, thoroughly investigated article than 10 pieces of supposition and PR sound bites... which is what a lot of the Autosport 'in-depth' analysis has been over the past few years.

An example of what I'm talking about here was Marcus Simmons' analysis on the future of F3 from a few weeks back. It was properly investigated and contained detailed comments from the key players involved in the the category and cut right to the core of what was going on. It was riveting.

An example of the bad is a lot of the dross that Mark Hughes, Edd Straw etc... come out with on F1 - Jenson Button 'why the team have listened to me in creating the 2013 car'... wake up guys... this is PR corporate speak that any decent journo should be able to see through like a paned glass window. Readers skip over it. If Jenson had said that the team haven't listened to him in creating the 2013 car there might be something worth talking about.

[AvdB]

Hello everyone,

Good to see AUTOSPORT can still create a debate in here! Just to clarify one point, I want to make it clear that the current issue does not reflect the balance of content of the new-look mag. It's the F1 season preview, and as such is one-off, totally F1-focused product.

From next week onwards, you'll start to see the full impact of the changes. In short, those are a reduction in the "what" to allow more space for the "how", "why" and "who" - and not just in F1, but across the motorsport landscape.

Given the national racing season hasn't even started yet, don't expect to see oceans of pages given up to the Club scene - although over the year we devote more pages to this type of motorsport than any other mag (and as much as AUTOSPORT has ever done) - but in the future we will continue to give this level of the sport the coverage we feel it deserves.

Many thanks,

Andrew van de Burgt

Editor-in-Chief, AUTOSPORT

[bella]

looking forward to seeing how the new design settles in over the next few issues.

i sympathise with anyone tasked with the job of reporting on f1. the industry has created a rod for its own back in a way with increasing coverage to cope with demand when there really isn't the news to fill that increased coverage. hence the re-hashed press release quotes. i like the new "mystery" features - those are a good way of getting the stuff that can't be reported to the public directly for obvious reasons out in one way or another.

i like the fact that the website now complements a subscription to the magazine very well. i'm really enjoying the guest pieces from f1 racing, and the extended coverage of non-f1 series on there - for example the features on fr3.5, especially the stoffel vandoorne one a couple of weeks ago. i'd really like to see extended race reports on the site in the plus section too - completely understandable that magazine space is limited, but it seems a shame to send someone out to a circuit for a short half page race report. particularly if the report posted on the site isn't all that enlightening.

so i can see why people are abandoning their subscriptions if they're just reading the magazine in isolation old school style, but personally i'm finding the value for money is increasing rather than decreasing. oh and *please*, never, EVER part ways with forix. that database is GOD

/essay

[andy97]

I'm really looking forward to the How and Why rather than the What. Its features and analysis that I want but that goes for National (inc club) Motorsport as well.

I actually just wish that Autosport and MN merged in to one publication so that the F1 & BTCC type coverage stayed about the same as in one publication but the coverage of the national, historic and non racing scenes doubled or tripled in that same single mag.

Doubt it will happen, though!

[The SpeCTator]

Good to have Andrew comment, well done.

Agree with "davyboy" the Marcus Simmons article on F3 was superb, agree again re. Mark Hughes, it amazes me he can fill an entire page writing about something that could be put in 3 paragraphs and most of the subjects are dull in the extreme.

Bring back Nigel Roebuck and give Marcus Pye more space

[Knowlesy]

Leave Roebuck alone, he's doing an awesome job on Motorsport Magazine. Although that is getting a new look next month, scarily.

[andy97]

Not sure I agree about giving Marcus Pye more space, when he talks about club motorsport he rarely mentions any other club other than the 750mc or the HSCC (both which he is closely associated with).

[M Greenslade]

(and as much as AUTOSPORT has ever done)

Clearly not enough...........

Bladders

[frostie]

I seem to be in a minority but I still subscribe and enjoy Autosport. It's fair to say that I still prefer to read through some of my back catalogue when Nigel Roebuck was writing/editing but the current mag is still something that I buy each week.

I do agree with most here that there hasn't been a balance between F1 and non-F1 news/features but there's also a correlation between sales of the magazine with an F1 driver on the cover and a non-F1 driver on the cover. I'm looking forward to seeing how the new structure will work out and will reserve making any judgements based on this weeks edition given that it's an F1 preview.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Leave Roebuck alone, he's doing an awesome job on Motorsport Magazine. Although that is getting a new look next month, scarily.

Hope they don't go too wild, as Motorsport is perfect. Solid, informative, interesting articles.

I think the direction for Autosport to go is the same. Most little news bits are online these days just about as soon as they happen. But there is room for good analysis, interviews and articles.

[Lorenzo S]

I have to agree with frostie. I enjoy reading Autosport and do so every week. The balance isn't right though, there is far too much F1 coverage that seems more at home in F1 Racing magazine but I understand why it's there. The mag wouldn't exist if it didn't attract the casual F1 fan. I don't believe in the myth of free news on the internet, Autosport is one of the few places that can be relied upon to actually generate articles themselves instead of just nicking them.

Getting back to the "makeover", Autosport has had several "new looks" over the years and I haven't been that impressed with many of them. This weeks cover is a student of Photoshop collage nightmare. I thought Haymarket owns the LAT archive, so they should have access to some of the finest photos available. I wish they would damn well use some of them and in a more upmarket, stylish look (á la Motorsport) because this Sun-newspaper style looks sh*t.

Oh and Autosport if you are reading this FFS shoot the designer that chose the black&white Helvetica clone.

[adam46]

Originally Posted by M Greenslade

Why doesn't Autosport rename itself to 'F1 Sport', it would be more appropriate, I gave up taking it nearly 20 years ago when I gave up marshalling F1, there is no longer a decent magazine for Club Motorsport.......

Bladders....

"There is no longer a decent magazine for Club Motorsport..."

I've noticed that being said often around here and elsewhere. I can't say I disagree if I'm honest. It does have me thinking though... Why can't the Ten Tenths community do something about it? I mean, we've already created 360 Motor Racing Club; So why not start a club motorsport publication? Budget might be an issue, but I still can't see why it wouldn't work.

This is a community full of dedicated motorsport fans, many of them involved in club motorsport through marshalling, organising and driving. We could put the spotlight on club events, club drivers and the people behind the scenes... Or on the frontline, in the case of a marshal! I am sure there must be a good few people here interested in writing, myself included. We could interview the numerous drivers here on Ten Tenths as well as club racers in general.

I think it would make for a good project, whether sold at the race circuits themselves or maybe just as an e-publication. Would anyone else be interested in this? Because I definitely would... Maybe Club Motorsport Monthly or Weekly could happen?

[M Greenslade]

Originally Posted by adam46

"There is no longer a decent magazine for Club Motorsport..."

I've noticed that being said often around here and elsewhere. I can't say I disagree if I'm honest. It does have me thinking though... Why can't the Ten Tenths community do something about it? I mean, we've already created 360 Motor Racing Club; So why not start a club motorsport publication? Budget might be an issue, but I still can't see why it wouldn't work.

This is a community full of dedicated motorsport fans, many of them involved in club motorsport through marshalling, organising and driving. We could put the spotlight on club events, club drivers and the people behind the scenes... Or on the frontline, in the case of a marshal! I am sure there must be a good few people here interested in writing, myself included. We could interview the numerous drivers here on Ten Tenths as well as club racers in general.

I think it would make for a good project, whether sold at the race circuits themselves or maybe just as an e-publication. Would anyone else be interested in this? Because I definitely would... Maybe Club Motorsport Monthly or Weekly could happen?

Excellent idea......there used to be an excellent publication a few years ago called something like Incar, can't remember as it was not around for very long, but surely there are enough club motorsport people around to support a specialist publication, you have only have to go and look on Smiths shelves to see the strange and odd magazines that interest people.

Bladders......

[John Turner]

It was called Ingear. Lasted about a year 2002-2003.

[andy97]

Originally Posted by adam46

"There is no longer a decent magazine for Club Motorsport..."

I've noticed that being said often around here and elsewhere. I can't say I disagree if I'm honest. It does have me thinking though... Why can't the Ten Tenths community do something about it? I mean, we've already created 360 Motor Racing Club; So why not start a club motorsport publication? Budget might be an issue, but I still can't see why it wouldn't work.

And the 360 nearly broke Claire and John despite all the promises of entries from plenty on here. Talk is cheap, publishing isn't!

Trackdriver Magazine does a good job in a very niche market (and its free) and there are also on line attempts like http://www.racingexposure.com/blog/
BUT; they all need contributors and time and enthusiasm etc and despite best intentions they all seem to run out early, sadly.

As someone who used to edit a sports club newsletter in my spare time I can tell you that it is more time consuming than you think and you end up writing articles to fill space yourself because no one else does (or is late etc).

I'd love to see a good club racing magazine but I can't see it happening realistically. We'd all be better off contributing articles to "racing exposure" etc. and ensuring that we subscribe to Track Driver.