Autosport Club Racing Coverage

[TimD]

Remember we were chatting the other day about the relative merits of the club coverage offered by "In-Gear" magazine and its established rivals, Autosport and Motorsport News?

Well, last weekend I was at Mallory Park, watching an enjoyable Vintage Sports Car Club race meeting, the highlight of which, for me, was a breathtaking Edwardian Handicap, for pre-1918 cars. The racing was close, and the cars extraordinary. Some of the competitors were having to handle cars of over 10 litres capacity!

Four of these leviathans conspired to scramble past the line almost abreast, and I'll swear the ground shook as they did so.

Well, I couldn't help but look forward to the Autosport report, and was not surprised at the usual half-page of coverage, but I think their coverage of the Edwardian race is worth comment here, in the light of recent discussion.

"....while Clive Press' Peugeot won the equivalent event for Edwardian cars."

That's it. Eleven words tacked onto a sentence describing a different race.

By way of comparison, they reproduced a quote four times as long again, from the Daily Telegraph, in their "What The Papers Say" column.

Sometimes words fail me.

[Ian Sowman]

Well, I wasn't at Mallory at the weekend (I was at Rockingham), but I'd make the point that it was a handicap race, and the whole point of those is that all the cars are supposed to cross the line together anyway. As such, if they do it isn't real newsworthy...

More seriously, it's fairly normal practice to focus on the named races rather than the multitude of scratch and handicap races, and then on the scratch races.

[Adam43]

I know what you mean. After an event, you sort of expect Autosport to fill those blanks, but they don't.

However I must say that Club Autosport is a lot better than Motorsport News nowadays. Which is a bit odd too.

They could (should?) do better.

I suppose that they know that only a few readers what to know what happened at Mallory Park (i.e those who spectated and participated, and three other people!), but everyone cares why Button has been booted out of two F1 teams in 3 years. It sells more copies if you write rubbish about F1 than if you write interesting facts about club sport.

On your point: I have often read club reports and seen the bits that they highlight and thought 'were you actually there or did you write that from the results sheet?'

[TimD]

That's been the complaint for a long time. The body of the text reiterates what's in the tabulated results, without telling the reader much about how the results came about.

On closer inspection of the magazine, I note that poor Trevor Swete's accident in the race meeting apparently warranted a picture, but I suspect that's because he was photographed rolling a valuable and irreplacable vintage car on top of himself without the benefit of seatbelts or roll cage.

Trevor's okay, but when I saw the accident happen, I was convinced that it was going to result in very serious injury.

But VSCC meetings are about a lot more than lurid incidents. They are part of the very bedrock of club motorsport. And to be honest, they deserve a bit of promoting. Those who are hardcore enthusiasts will know the VSCC calendar, and the hidden delights on offer within, but unless the resulting events are adequately reported, they will remain the preserve of a very few.

Ian, in some respects, I would agree with you on the concept of handicaps. VSCC handicap events can be very arcane, and deeply confusing. It is in the nature of the beast. I've been watching them for thirty years, and I still occasionally throw my hands up in horror when trying to figure out who finished where. This is why the Edwardian Handicap was so special. It was not only easy to follow, it was also spectacular on every lap. And that, I would humbly suggest, would be newsworthy.

The very fact that you had no evidence in front of you to suggest that this race was out of the ordinary rather serves to prove my point, I'm afraid.

[mattray]

now come on Mr Snowman, the defence?

Matt

[Ian Sowman]

Matt

Can't decide if your mis-spelling is intentional or not! Anyway, I'm not sure if I need to make a defence - I only write for them occasionally and post here in an attempt to give an insight into certain issues. I'll mount one anyway...

Regarding the copy just re-iterating the results. To an extent this has to be the case - you can't explain how the result arose without, even indirectly, stating what it is. The report should be able to stand alone. A reporter could describe a great battle between (say) Matthew Rivett and Alex Ames, but if the reader doesn't know whether it's for first or 15th what is the point? As I've said before, my own preferred style is to give a more detailed report (more of a 'how') on a few races than a superficial 'what' on all of them.

On Swete's roll - I guess the photograph was used because it portrayed one of no doubt many spectacular moments (accidents or otherwise) that occurred. Of course it wouldn't have been used if the driver was hurt. I don't see a problem with that.

On the promotion of the VSCC events via the magazines - well, VSCC events get as much coverage as any other club events in Autosport. A few years ago the decision was made to drop them from MN, partly (I'm only guessing here) because there are no championships as such and partly because MN doesn't have a strong historic bias.

And finally handicaps. By and large they are completely impenetrable, and very difficult therefore to report on because it isn't clear which bit of the track you should be watching! If this was an exception I'm only sorry that I missed it.

Ian

[mattray]

Ian,
It would appear you have left an "n" from your surname in your profile.

Will you be at Combe on the 3rd?

Matt

[Hamness]

Matt, sort them all out on 3rd. We will be at Quarry cheering you on (we were at Tower for the F3 meeting)but that oversteer is getting more & more!

[bella]

autosport's reporters (one in particular, no names..) are verging on incompetance at times. one recent race was reported almost completely wrong, like said reporter had not watched the race at all, or read the timesheet.

as for the coverage, i reckon the single seater series' are lacking in coverage, so the classic stuff is definitely losing out considerably. however, to the writer's credit, they usually do very well with their word limits.

[mattray]

Hamness;
Okey Dokey.

bella;
to be fair to the reporters they wont have time to talk to everyone and the people who they do talk to will only know what heppened to them and views are bound to be biased. It must be an impossible job to keep words to the limit given and be fair to all. Especially with all of these Bank holiday races this year and the deadline being so soon after.


Matt

[Mackmot]

the one that i think bella is talking about is very good at writing and a very nice person. He/she tends to chat to people a bit too much though and doesnt watch the races with a kean eye.

[Ian Sowman]

That's very impressive Mackmot - you could write crosswords...