Club Autosport

graeme · 29 Jul 2004, 16:38 (Ref:1051057)

What's with Club Autosport cutting back on the result listings in race reports. You fight you way up to sixth and don't even get a mention (I actually thought when I was making the overtaking move "that's a mention in Autosport"). I note that Formula BMW and the like get the top 10 listed (that's must be more than half the grid)

Kicking-back · 29 Jul 2004, 16:41 (Ref:1051062)

Club Autosport is an uneasy alliance between National series and Club series - yet the differences do show on its pages.

JohnMiller · 29 Jul 2004, 16:57 (Ref:1051079)

For reasons best known to them Autosport think Formula Renault and British GTs is club motorsport.

diz · 29 Jul 2004, 17:33 (Ref:1051120)

Cue a reply from John McIlroy next time he is on TT

graeme · 29 Jul 2004, 18:15 (Ref:1051141)

Well here's a business plan for John - if he puts my name in for 6th, I'll buy the magazine; if my name's not there, I'll leave it on the newsagents shelf...

kickstart · 29 Jul 2004, 18:17 (Ref:1051143)

Please could Autosport tell us the number of competitors in each race

diz · 29 Jul 2004, 18:30 (Ref:1051151)

Come on Graeme, he can't run his business like that. What if you only come 7th and what about all winter when you won't be racing and what about ..... and what about...... ?

How about trading the Caterham for something Marcus Pye would like to drive.
Or maybe tell them you are starting a mega bucks GT team. That would guarantee weekly coverage - especially during the close season when every Tom, Dick and Harry could be linked to your much sought after drives in ALMS, FIA, British GT, a potential manufacturer backed Le Mans attack - maybe as soon as 2007 etc.

Cynical moi?

Oui.

Liam22 · 29 Jul 2004, 18:57 (Ref:1051176)

Disappointed to only see 20-odd words about the SELOC BMW Challenge race at Brands last Sunday. A problem with being on the same bill as Formula Woman I suppose

**Tim Falce** · 29 Jul 2004, 19:00 (Ref:1051181)

I actualy got a mention in MSN for coming tenth, I still didn't buy it.

Kicking-back · 29 Jul 2004, 21:06 (Ref:1051310)

Quote:

Originally posted by kickstart
Please could Autosport tell us the number of competitors in each race

It'd be good to see a starters/finishes number on races where they don't give full results, yes.

R59 · 29 Jul 2004, 22:12 (Ref:1051368)

Quote:

Originally posted by kickstart
Please could Autosport tell us the number of competitors in each race

With all of the problems with low grids, it'd make more depressing reading! Let's all dream that these four cars finished at the head of a bursting 38 car grid. Dream on. (no other finishers)

Rob.

foreversideways · 30 Jul 2004, 19:52 (Ref:1052206)

And could they make the print a bit bigger in that section as well. Not that i need reading glasses!!. But having said that, anybody notice how dark in restaurants it is these days. Cant make out the menue

R59 · 30 Jul 2004, 20:44 (Ref:1052271)

Are you related to Chuffer Dandridge?

Ian Sowman · 30 Jul 2004, 21:07 (Ref:1052303)

For some time it has been top six in a single-class race and top four in a multi-class, sometimes that is pruned back further if space is very tight. Bear in mind more results would mean shorter reports, and given that I'm one of the people who writes them, I know what I prefer.

**Snapper Baz** · 30 Jul 2004, 21:09 (Ref:1052305)

Must admit the Formula Women report was far to long-the remaining races just getting the smallest of mentions for some reason. The answer is to have every national championship called the "Historic" ie: The Historic Britcar championship or the HIstoric Mighty Mini series...that way a certain Ed' of the magazine would give wads of pages of reports and pictures to those series as that is what seemingly happens at the moment. wink, wink!

**Snapper Baz** · 30 Jul 2004, 21:11 (Ref:1052308)

I say smaller reports-MORE pictures!!!!

R59 · 30 Jul 2004, 21:16 (Ref:1052315)

Ian,

Why not cut down on that boring c**p that they call F1, where overtaking is generally done in the pits, and at the beck and call of Mr Brawn.

They can do with half a page, and our undersubscribed grids could have a page each.

Perhaps we could encourage Zsolt to run in a typical UK race, he'd be in the top 6 easy!

No further finishers.

Rob.

Kicking-back · 30 Jul 2004, 21:23 (Ref:1052321)

F1 sells magazines.

Balgair · 31 Jul 2004, 01:18 (Ref:1052444)

Quote:

Originally posted by Kicking-back
F1 sells magazines.

Not in my house - I just decided not to bother renewing my Autosport subscription due to the huge amount of F1, which appears to be increasing all the time (despite it being the least interesting F1 season I've known in over ten years of following the sport) and virtually nil coverage of the Scottish club racing. I know Knockhill's a long way from most people, but it'd be nice if there was ever any indication of anyone noticing that those of us north of the border even exist, as apart from a very small report which basically says who finished in the top three of each race, we've had just about nothing all year.

I'm not spending another £100-odd for another year of magazines where I care about one page in every four issues on average, so it's bye-bye Autosport for me.

R59 · 31 Jul 2004, 22:04 (Ref:1052918)

Quote:

Originally posted by Kicking-back
F1 sells magazines.

Talking to many Motorsports News readers, it's Rallying and short oval racing that sells that newspaper. Once you're past page 4, your out of F1 territory.

F1 has it's own dedicated magazines, which F1 nuts read. Autosport is the journal of national and international motorsport, yet seems to be biased toward things F1. Yes, OK, it's the top of the foodchain, but surely there should be more room for us lowly scum who are the majority of the readers of the rag.

What would it take, two or three more pages to expand it over compared to normal?

Rob.

Kicking-back · 1 Aug 2004, 08:55 (Ref:1053132)

Quote:

Originally posted by racing59
Surely there should be more room for us lowly scum who are the majority of the readers of the rag.

I don't know if the statistics of Autosport sales back that up.

Be good to hear from John McIlroy on this one.

johnw · 2 Aug 2004, 01:05 (Ref:1053649)

But K-B, Rob didn't say buyers.
I read it occasionally sitting on my shopping basket in Sainsburys, but haven't bought one for a few years

ss_collins · 2 Aug 2004, 07:57 (Ref:1053744)

Well here's a business plan for John - if he puts my name in for 6th, I'll buy the magazine; if my name's not there, I'll leave it on the newsagents shelf...

And buy MN the day before...

I've noticed an increase in club racing in MN - especially previews.

TimD · 2 Aug 2004, 08:16 (Ref:1053760)

Of course, the true art is in employing writers who can grab the uninterested and persuade them to read an article they would otherwise ignore. People like Joe Saward from the old days of Autosport could make a six-starter Sports 2000 race on the Silverstone GP circuit sound interesting.

And I'll still cherish the mental image from a very wet Snetterton of "the good ship Andy Rouse and his Sierra XR4 sailing serenely out of the tempest".

Now, if we had more writing like that, I could put up with the current balance of content in Autosport - at a push.

**Snapper Baz** · 2 Aug 2004, 08:38 (Ref:1053770)

Joe was great-his saloon reports were superb. But I stopped reading GP reports when Pete Lyons also stopped...that was a few years ago! (If John W was mentioned in the race reports more often I think we'd all start buying again!!)

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