56 replies to this topic

[Derwent Motorsport]

The sad thing about these awards is that all the nominees are at the high end of the money scale. The vast majority of classic car clubs, events, races, magazines etc are for folk like us who don't have megabucks! What about all the great local motor clubs who run super events, that we can afford to do and no one is paid to run them!
It just reminds me why I don't read Octane!

[john aston]

Couldnt agree more; whilst there is often some interesting stuff - and in Hales and Dron they have two seriously good driver/writers so much of the magazine posistively reeks of the sort of affluence that most of us can only dream of. And whilst I will enjoy reading about porn like 250 SWBs I find smug ,Tatler like accounts of exclusive celeb heavy events near nauseating. This month's Octane is mainly advertorial for daft presents anyway - what IS it with so many middleaged blokes and Steve McQueen ? It's tragic...

[Alan Cox]

Couldnt agree more; whilst there is often some interesting stuff - and in Hales and Dron they have two seriously good driver/writers so much of the magazine posistively reeks of the sort of affluence that most of us can only dream of. And whilst I will enjoy reading about porn like 250 SWBs I find smug ,Tatler like accounts of exclusive celeb heavy events near nauseating. This month's Octane is mainly advertorial for daft presents anyway - what IS it with so many middleaged blokes and Steve McQueen ? It's tragic...

Hear, hear. These days I find that there may be one article that I would quite like to read but the rest it sheer irrelevance as far as a follower of historic racing cars and historic motor racing is concerned. I think I have bought two issues in the last 18 months. Who is their target audience who are obsessed by surreal watches and, as John says, Steve McQueen driving socks? That said, I agree that Mark Hales' articles on driving technique are some of the best things I have ever read - his lucid explanations of how and why things happen to a car on a roadway are an object lesson in clarity.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Did Octane ever run a monthly feature called “My Favourite Book”?  I seem to recall that it was either Octane or C&SC.  I’m looking for one in particular in which (then) Lord March talks about his favourite, Ralph Stein’s “The Treasury of the Automobile.”  Unfortunately, neither magazine has a search function that amounts to anything.  I’ve already checked with the staffs of both magazines and both say the feature was not theirs.  I know I read it and it must have been in one of those two, so…..

 

Does anyone have any recollection of this?  
 

Many thanks.

[VWV]

Did Octane ever run a monthly feature called “My Favourite Book”?  I seem to recall that it was either Octane or C&SC.  I’m looking for one in particular in which (then) Lord March talks about his favourite, Ralph Stein’s “The Treasury of the Automobile.”  Unfortunately, neither magazine has a search function that amounts to anything.  I’ve already checked with the staffs of both magazines and both say the feature was not theirs.  I know I read it and it must have been in one of those two, so…..

 

Does anyone have any recollection of this?  
 

Many thanks.

I read both magazines and I do not recall seeing that feature. Googling I came across this. https://magazine.str...entleman-racer/

 

Is this what you are thinking of?

[Jack-the-Lad]

I read both magazines and I do not recall seeing that feature. Googling I came across this. https://magazine.str...entleman-racer/

 

Is this what you are thinking of?

Thanks, but that isn’t it.  I can’t imagine where I would have seen it except in one of those two magazines.  I’m a bit surprised that I haven’t been able to dig it out of the internet, but my search skills aren’t the best, either.

Edited by Jack-the-Lad, 06 July 2022 - 17:59.

[john aston]

I'd revise my 2012 opinion now. Apart from the ever absurd Robert Coucher, motoring journalism's very own Alan Partridge, Octane has evolved into a very fine magazine, and is comfortably the best of the three I subscribe to . MS has lost its way , with focus far too much on modern F 1 and e-sports (etc) , CSC is fine , if  a little oily under its fingernails but Octane consistently delivers a very wide range of content , is beautiful to look and takes days, rather than hours to read. Not that much racing content but what there is is often left field and fascinating .