GP Racing Magazine gone?

GP Racing Magazine gone?

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Discussion

Old Merc

Original Poster:

3,643 posts

179 months

Tuesday 11th February
quotequote all
Am I the only disappointed F1 fan? What do you F1 fans think.

GP Racing has merged with Autosport magazine.I received my first copy, 162 pages thick !!Less than half about F1.The rest, BTCC, IMSA, WRC, & club racing.
I’ve been subscribing to GP Racing since it first started, when it was called F1 Racing. 100 pages devoted to F1.








BunkMoreland

1,605 posts

19 months

Friday 14th February
quotequote all
Old Merc said:
Am I the only disappointed F1 fan? What do you F1 fans think.

GP Racing has merged with Autosport magazine.I received my first copy, 162 pages thick !!Less than half about F1.The rest, BTCC, IMSA, WRC, & club racing.
I’ve been subscribing to GP Racing since it first started, when it was called F1 Racing. 100 pages devoted to F1.
I knew Autosport was having some wobbles. And was either going online only or monthly. I didn't know this was the new format for F1 Racing

Is the current one with George on the front the first of the "new style" ??

mike80

2,318 posts

228 months

Friday 14th February
quotequote all
Second, it changed to this format at the start of this year.

Old Merc

Original Poster:

3,643 posts

179 months

Saturday 15th February
quotequote all
mike80 said:
Second, it changed to this format at the start of this year.
And it costs £7.99 !!

CocoUK

997 posts

194 months

Saturday 15th February
quotequote all
Really enjoyed F1 Racing magazine in the Matt Bishop days.

BunkMoreland

1,605 posts

19 months

Saturday 15th February
quotequote all
Old Merc said:
mike80 said:
Second, it changed to this format at the start of this year.
And it costs £7.99 !!
For a monthly that's not bad. The Times newspaper today costs £4.20

Problem is that anything time sensitive is already out of date.

Magazines only work when its in depth articles on the past (more than 6 months ago) or long for interviews with people. Donkeys years ago I remember a brilliant, must have been 10 page, interview with Ron by (IIRC) Roebuck in F1Racing. Was about a year or so after the £100M fine. Cant say Ive seen much since as a more occasional reader that's gripped.

StevieBee

14,002 posts

267 months

Sunday 16th February
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Fun fact.... Autosport was once the UK's highest circulating weekly magazine.

I've a loft full of Autosports, F1 Racing and Motor Sport magazine. Some going back to the late 70s. I used to love Motor Sport but these days I'm confused as to whether it's about motor racing or watches.

Grand Prix International was of course the king of the hill!

I think all magazines are dwindling which a shame. There's a company called Motorsports Network (I think) that's been hoovering up titles all around the world, hence titles merging and the like.

bergclimber34

740 posts

5 months

Sunday 16th February
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As someone who many moon ago was briefly involved in publishing, (I saw the light), it is about sales and ads, not a lot else, an ad coming in that spends a ton will easily banish an article.

This kind of title is now about websites, Youtube, Instagram etc not just writing, that skill has largely gone which is a shame.

You are also getting a lot of very expensive quarterly mags now, something that was popular in the US for decades. this makes some sense but part of me cannot justify a tenner on a magazine no matter the quality.

Sales means ads, ads means revenue beyond sales, if sales drop so do ads, some magazines will always thrive, but when you consider some of the best selling have all gone, you might not like it but Max Power was the biggest selling car magazine for a time. Gone ages ago.

patmahe

5,870 posts

216 months

Sunday 16th February
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To be fair I stuck with the print magazines for a long time, but more and more I found that what I was reading in the magazine, I had already seen online. Print publishing simply cannot compete with the turnaround time of online content. Quality writing has made way for being first with a story, it's a sad but inevitable side of the evolution of how we consume media.

BunkMoreland

1,605 posts

19 months

Sunday 16th February
quotequote all
bergclimber34 said:
You are also getting a lot of very expensive quarterly mags now, something that was popular in the US for decades. this makes some sense but part of me cannot justify a tenner on a magazine no matter the quality.

Road Rat is £17.50 an issue. Thats a significant cost per year! Plus they seem to do smaller than usual print runs so they always sell out

coppice

9,093 posts

156 months

Monday 17th February
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I love magazines and still buy them . The new Autosport is an improvement and , understandably these days its focus is what you can see on TV . So F1 dominates , as it has for years , with WEC/IMSA , WRC and Indy cars as supporting roles. Much of the F1 stuff I find tedious , pages of speculation and interviews that say nothing controversial . But I guess that the PR controlled world we live in , sadly.

What I do miss , and its decline was why I stopped buying it every week as I had done for decades , was the diminishing coverage of the national motorsport scene - and not just racing, but speed events , drag racing and and so on.Events whicn I attend most weekends in spring and summer . Now we have instant results from TSL (etc) nobody needs an old style race by race report, but colour reports , of the type my late chum Simon Arron did so well are now virtually extinct . And that is a shame. F1 apart , to me motorsport is almost exclusively a live experience and most of the rest is just watching telly .

bergclimber34

740 posts

5 months

Monday 17th February
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I have to admit I cant arsed to drive as much as I once used to and only do it for certain types of racing that are not hugely popular in the media, I bored of F1 journalism in the 90's after working in the industry for a while and realising most of it even then was just processing press releases, very little actual journalism existed, it still does at the lower end of motorsport but not much. I prefer watching the big stuff on tv now, no queuing, no daft people, no awful treatment at venues and I dont have to pay, and can see everything!!

Win win for me