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What weekly/monthly publications do you read?


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#1 Derwent Motorsport

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 18:27

We had this discussion at a club night recently. Most of us were brought up on Motoring News and Motor Sport and then onto Classic Car and the like. Autosport was considered too much "racing" and perhaps a bit posh for us humble rallymen!

 

Motor Sport still seems popular amongst the over 40s but MN (or MSM as it is now has fallen to just a handful because (ex readers say) it has lost touch with the clubman which was its heartland. Virtually no AS readers here. Both AS and MSN are deemed as costly and poor value for money. Motorsport Monday fills the need for F1/WRC etc gossip and it is free and on a Monday!

 

The monthly scene does seem to have picked up, albeit with a variety of titles. Classic & Sports Car is the leader from Practical Classics with Classic car now some way behind. The one make mags seem to have a loyal following like MG Enthusiast, Jaguar World and the excellent marque specific club magazines. Vintage enthusiasts (cars not owners!) like The Automobile.

 

I wondered what fellow forum members read?



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#2 Doug Nye

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 20:10

Oh dear. 'Flight', 'Aeroplane Monthly', and 'FlyPast'...

DCN

#3 BRMfan

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 20:20

I am interested in the technical side and read Race car engineering and Race Tech as well as Motor Sport



#4 chunder27

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Posted 26 May 2014 - 21:23

None, for me these days, none of them offer value for money anymore.



#5 David Birchall

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 01:18

None of 'em.  Amongst the Saturday Lunch Set we exchange copies of "Octane, "MotorSport", and "Classic & Sports Car" although the quality of writing/knowledge in the latter leaves much to be desired.  Somebody obviously is buying them but most of us just read them in passing.

 

Personally "The New Yorker" fills most of my reading needs these days...



#6 Pat Clarke

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 01:40

Along with Doug, I read Aeroplane and Flypast.

I have Racetech and Race Engine Technology Subscriptions. Race Car Engineering is no longer good value, so only occasionally.

And i usually buy Australian Auto Action each week and the occasional Motorcycling publication.

 

Pat



#7 IrishMariner

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 02:00

I get all these on the iPad as they are way too $$ to get sent to West coast USA:-
Aeroplane Monthly, Racetech, Racecar Engineering, Tractor & Machinery and Farm Machinery Journal.

#8 john aston

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 07:07

Motor Sport is the one I read cover to cover; Damien Smith deserves much praise for his editorship. After all , almost every other publication about the sport thinks it begins and ends with Effone innit. As Simon Taylor's fascinating interview with John Force showed , there's a hell of a lot more than the Nico and Lewis handbags at dawn soap opera.

 

CSC - I always look forward to the read of this thick magazine but I often find it wanting. When it's good it's very good but I do find Martin Buckley's daft sociological commentary on the demographic which bought the featured cars grates. I think his research involves watching b and w movies on obscure channels .

 

Octane- Mr Coucher's hideously smug style apart , it can be a good read.

 

Car? How are the mighty fallen - gave it up in 1992 and the odd one I see now is so bad it beggars belief

 

Autosport- slightly better than than its nadir which it reached four or five years ago but still an F1 fanzine with only the most superficial coverage of the stuff we lot actually watch live 


Edited by john aston, 27 May 2014 - 07:09.


#9 elansprint72

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 09:08

 

 

CSC - I always look forward to the read of this thick magazine but I often find it wanting. When it's good it's very good but I do find Martin Buckley's daft sociological commentary on the demographic which bought the featured cars grates. I think his research involves watching b and w movies on obscure channels .

 

Absolutely agree; he seems to live in some imagined suburban Buckleyworld where it is permanently 1975-85. His pieces are full of errors- just check out how often he features in the "Corrections" column in subsequent months. Thanks to him I have TWO "Pedant in Chief" caps- :rolleyes:

 

The rest of C&SC is mainly good, with occasional slips; everyone interviewed by Pressnell seems to fall off their perch within six months; Mick Walsh puts in the odd absolutely daft bit just to see who is paying attention- it's good fun trying to spot these.

 

I've tried the new Motor Sport- too much Frankel, too much effwun, not enough Arron.

 

Classic Cars is a shadow of its former self.

 

Highlight of my month is when the Historic Lotus Register mag arrives.


Edited by elansprint72, 27 May 2014 - 16:12.


#10 Stephen W

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 09:34

 "Octane" and "Classic & Sports Car", both on subscription, along with various motor club magazines that arrive either in hard-copy or as internet downloads.



#11 Nick Savage

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 10:08

'The Automobile' is the one I could not do without; C&SC more out of habit, but still has seams of interest, particularly when Mick Walsh is featuring aero-engined boats, nostalgia-era front-engine dragsters or warbirds. The graphic design is passing fair. Flypast and Aeroplane Monthly, though more often read in WH Smith than purchased. Propliner, without which no self-respecting Lockheed Constellation lover can be seen.

In the 90s I used to buy Autosport without fail, but stopped when the club reportage went downhill, and there's only so much EffWun I can take. Motor Sport without fail from the early 60s to the 80s, until I finally tired of about the ninth month of excerpts from 'The Diary of an RFC Officer' or something similar ...  The Bod could have his blind spots, or perhaps I should say that my blind spots and his did not coincide. And the excerpts in  eight-point typeface could be irritating.

I loved Supercar Classics when it was a quarterly, but less so as a monthly. Hot Rod Magazine in the 60s, when the pace of drag-racing inventiveness was endless.

 

And for striking and innovative design, R&T in the 60s was outstanding  ...  as well as some wonderful writers : who would not want to buy R&T when it employed Henry Manney, Stan Mott et al.....

Nick

 

I cannot think of any motoring mag today that has an attractive graphic design  ...  and Classic Cars is like a plunge into the 1980s.



#12 Mallory Dan

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 10:10

Old A/Spurts from the early and mid 70s, plus my Traction mags from 1997-2006ish



#13 nicanary

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 10:57

Motor Sport and Classic & Sportscar, both on subscription. I'm getting really fed up with the change of direction with MS and will probably cancel my sub. This month's issue only provided me with a few pages of interest - it's mainly F1 and WEC or whatever it's called now. Lookalike technological marvels which leave me cold. I can hardly blame the editorial staff,  - they're trying to attract a new demographic - they've relied for too long on old farts like me, and at the end of the day the mag has to turn a profit. The days of WB and DSJ running it as a hobby are long gone. I read Roebuck's always excellent piece, DCN's offering of course, and well, there's not much else.

 

I agree with comments about the writing in C&SC - Walsh and his constant "I crouched below the scuttle and imagined  myself to be XYZ flat out down the Muldoon in the setting sun" - PLEASE think of a different angle, I'm fed up with it. I'm not 13 years old. And as for Buckley - well, quite. But at least I get to read something, which can't be said for the so-quickly-scanned MS.


Edited by nicanary, 27 May 2014 - 10:58.


#14 tifosiMac

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 11:35

I used to buy Autosport, NME, and Mountain Biking UK quite regularly but now they are all so expensive and close to a fiver an issue. I don't buy magazines any more and rely on online content I'm afraid, especially for motorsport tastes. :)



#15 Derwent Motorsport

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 11:52

One that nearly every motor club member got regularly was Cars and Car Conversons. It was the Bible for modifying cars and rallying for many years. It also had huge sales but seemed to drop away and it's demise was quite sudden. I think it got into the wrong ownership if I remember right.


Edited by Derwent Motorsport, 27 May 2014 - 11:52.


#16 Slurp1955

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 11:59

Old A/Spurts from the early and mid 70s, plus my Traction mags from 1997-2006ish


A/Spurts,eh? I've a few of those mags.....

#17 kayemod

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 12:09

A/Spurts,eh? I've a few of those mags.....

 

Probably like me though, you only buy them for the crossword and knitting patterns.



#18 Doug Nye

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 12:16

...never to ignore the spot the ball competition?

 

DCN



#19 Gary Davies

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 12:43

Oh dear. 'Flight', 'Aeroplane Monthly', and 'FlyPast'...

DCN

Golly gosh. Is this a regular contributor to Motor Sport not 'fessing up to reading Motor Sport?



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#20 kayemod

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 12:55

...never to ignore the spot the ball competition?

 

DCN

 

I wondered who would be the first to go for that crack...



#21 RA Historian

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 13:32

Motor Sport, Road & Track, Sports Car, Vintage Racecar, Autoweek, Vintage Motorsport.

 

Used to be a lot more, but the days of print mags are fading. I dropped my sub to Autosport about ten years ago. It just got too jingoistic, too F-1, too many rumors printed as fact, and too little US coverage.  I still miss On Track, which simply was the best race reporting magazine. I still subscribe to Road & Track, even though it is but a pale shadow of what it was in the '50s and '60s, simply because I have subscribed since 1957 and just do not want to break the streak. I have every Sports Car since the early 1960s, but that comes with membership in the SCCA.

 

(Disclosure; I have had articles in all the above save R&T, plus a good number of other mags, including On Track)

 

Tom



#22 chunder27

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 14:19

CCC was dropped by its publisher, not long after I went for an interview there!!  Was odd as I rememeber getting on famously with the editor, but sadly the publisher who was Mr Fryattg I think wanted to go the track day car route, as thatw as taking off at the time, hence every month being an Elise/Caterham special and people losing interest.

 

it was sold to another publisher I think and they were brothers I believe who were also track day nuts, so the previous fanbase lost interest and it went under.

Shame as at one time it was essential reading, excelletn articles, superb insight into various forms of motorsport and brilliantly written.



#23 Alan Cox

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 16:49

Old A/Sports from the early and mid 70s, plus my Traction mags from 1997-2006ish

Always one to keep his finger on the pulse, our Dan



#24 doc knutsen

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 17:06

I am the one subscriber that Orterspurt has got left, so it seems. Then there is Motor Sport, but I have to admit, my top monthly treat is FlyPast. Aeroplane used to be in there as well, and I still buy it from time to time...but sadly, they do not worry too much about foreign subscribers, so it seems. Race Tech and Racecar Engineering used to be very important, but with so much of contemporary motor racing technology being "secret" and off limits to technically minded journalists, most of the air has left that balloon...

Oh, and then there's Motor Veteran, KARN ( the Norwegian Alfa-Romeo Club monthly), the Jaguar Enthusiast's Club monthly, the Norwegian Jaguar Enthusiasts Club monthly, and occasionally C&SC, the GRRC newsletter, biking magazines of the pedal powered variety... sigh, no wonder the missus worries about shelf space!

 

At my workshop, a whole wall of shelves in the socializing room...often known as the coffee centre... contains Autosports from the late Sixties up to the late Nineties, when I gave them up for some time. Also, several seasons of that wunnerful magazine known as Cars & Car Perversions. Thumbing through these still gives me a great deal of pleasure.


Edited by doc knutsen, 27 May 2014 - 17:09.


#25 IanMH

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Posted 27 May 2014 - 22:05

Anyone remember Hot Car Mag...editor was Mark Cole who raced a Sturdgess in sports car racing I think...he raced at the last meeting at Chrystal Palace in 1972...really fired up my interest in club motor racing...I've got a load of them and still luving it!...Cheers Ian :yawnface:



#26 john ruston

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Posted 28 May 2014 - 04:09

The Oldie! ,occasional Private Eye, and Motor Sport and C&SC when I am flying.

VSCC mags and club magazines from both Pre War Talbot clubs.

For some reason I always forget to cancel the Porsche Post stuff that comes with Club membership that as far as 356 ownership is concerned is dross.

The US 356 Club Mag is certainly a better read.

#27 Jack-the-Lad

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Posted 28 May 2014 - 05:30

"Classic & Sports Car", "Octane", "Motor Sport",  "Cavallino" (bimonthly)



#28 427MkIV

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Posted 28 May 2014 - 13:01

I subscribed to Autoweek, Car & Driver and Road & Track in the 80s and 90s, but by the 2000s had let them all lapse to save money, because they often had similar information and I didn't have time to read them.



#29 Snakedriver

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Posted 28 May 2014 - 14:35

I subscribe to Octane.  Its nice to look across the pond and see sports cars that our Gov't hasn't molested or doesn't allow here...for our safety of course.  Also R&T because the price is right.  Lastly, as I pick up the vintage racing hobby, Vintage Motorsport.  Its focus is in the US primarily.

 

Cheers,

Leo



#30 elansprint72

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Posted 28 May 2014 - 16:32

The Oldie! ,occasional Private Eye, and Motor Sport and C&SC when I am flying.

VSCC mags and club magazines from both Pre War Talbot clubs.

For some reason I always forget to cancel the Porsche Post stuff that comes with Club membership that as far as 356 ownership is concerned is dross.

The US 356 Club Mag is certainly a better read.

I have two neighbours who are members with 911s, both of them think that Porsche Post is deadful (they pass it on to me for, almost immediate, recycling) I'm not sure that any long-term owner would find it interesting.

 

One magazine which I thought was really good was "Sporting Cars"; perhaps DCN can remind us what happened to it? The issue I'm currently looking at lists the following as Contributors: Phil Llewellin, the Bod, Mike Worthington-Williams, DCN, Rev Rupert Jones, Don Pither and Jim Porter, amongst others. Terry Grimwood was the publisher. Now that's not a bad team, eh?



#31 BRG

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Posted 28 May 2014 - 19:21

For decades, I faithfully bought Motoring News every week.  Until a combination of growing difficulty finding a shop that sold it and the atrocious production quality esp. the printing (poor colour register especially) and the fact they couldn't even fold it into a paper properly anymore made me give up on it.  So since about 4 years ago, I took to buying Motor Sport instead.

 

Also Railway magazine, and (spinning OT) the Economist.



#32 David Birchall

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 01:00

I still get out my copies of "SuperCarClassics".  Stupid name for what was a brilliant magazine.



#33 Stephen W

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 08:20

...never to ignore the spot the ball competition?

 

DCN

 

I am sure there was at least one Spot The Ball competition in Autosport - something to do with Autocross Football if memory serves.

 

:wave:



#34 Derwent Motorsport

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 10:21

Was not "Sporting Car" one of Philip Young's magazines before he became an organiser of commercial rallies? I am trying to remember what the next one was, one was bought out by Classic Car I think.

Another good one was "Historic Race & Rally" which was bank rolled by Nick Mason but was perhaps a bit before historic racing and ralling were hugely popular.



#35 Dipster

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 12:45

It is neither weekly or monthly but I subscribe to Private Eye. Magazines are so expensive for what you get I prefer to buy books regularly and rely on the net for car stuff.

#36 willy.henderickx

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 13:28

Cavallino as I have a particular interests in Maranello pre 1980s racing cars. In the 20th century, I had a subscription for Sport Auto, l'Automobile the deceased Fanauto and the Gould's stuff. I frequently read Sports Cars Illustrated, Road & Track. Nowadays, I sometimes read Automobiles classiques, Classic and Sport Cars and Ferrari World (German edition) when I travel to Luxembourg or Germany plus a lot of Aviation Magazines (English, French and Italian.



#37 Siddley

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 13:34

Moto Clasica, Biker Zone and sometimes a firearm\hunting magazine.



#38 bill p

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 15:57

Motor Sport

Classic and Sports Car

Octane

Classic Cars

Vintage Motorsport (bi-monthly) - for American history

Autosport three times per year -  Revival report, Formula 1 review and Christmas quiz issues

AC Owners' Club magazine



#39 fuzzi

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 17:28

I gave up on the Automobile sometime ago and I last 'subscribed' to Octane and Classic and Sportscar through a six-month offer.

 

Now I have the VSCC Bulletin, the Talbot Owners Club Magazine, Pre-War Austin Seven Club and the superlative "Light Car"; the magazine of the Light Car and Edwardian Section of the VSCC.



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#40 elansprint72

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Posted 29 May 2014 - 19:11

............................ I frequently read Sports Cars Illustrated,...............................

Good man!     http://sportscarillu...acing-News.html                 :smoking:



#41 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 30 May 2014 - 03:08

The only mag I buy now is Australian Muscle Car. Though I am wondering why these days as they have lost direction. Though to an extent they have covered the majority of what is a Muscle Car.

I used to buy Auto Action [aka as the Fiction!] but not for a long time. And a couple of Speedway mags too. I seldom even browse the newsagents these days.



#42 cdrewett

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Posted 30 May 2014 - 06:09

Oh dear indeed. The garage roof space is groaning with mags, MS, every copy from 1963 until it went dire in the eighties.

Now: MS is back and read from cover to cover. You can't beat Nigel R, Simon T, our Doug, and unlike some I enjoy reading Frankel's take on modern cars and his track tests.

CSC....well I tried 6 copies for £6 and that was enough. It gets scanned in WH Smith and bought if there's an article that's a must read.

Octane......I'm not rich or pretentious enough.

EVO.........I don't have a Beemer or a Lambo

Autocar.....on subscription and excellent. Cropley is brilliant as are Sutcliffe and Prior. The best road tests of any magazine anywhere.

Bugantics and MAC News

Then,like Doug......Pilot, Flyer, LAA Journal and occasionally Fly Past and Aeroplane. These of course for essential research for Revival, I tell the Boss, but I'm not sure she believes me.



#43 john aston

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Posted 30 May 2014 - 06:32

I forgot to add that I also read Low Flying , the Lotus Seven Club magazine , which is about Sevens and so much more. Some very good writers too apart from some anorak called John Aston ....



#44 d j fox

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Posted 30 May 2014 - 14:15

Motor Sport-cover to cover...well, apart from the boring road test stuff. I've been reading that since 1959!

Fly Past

Road Racing World--a great US mag covering MotoGp, WSB and the dying US AMA scene

Road & Track ( at a yearly sub rate of $7...!)

 

I gave up on Autosport some years ago, but still enjoy my 1958-1965 collection and like Tom I miss On Track--a great magazine.

Many years ago I used to subscribe to French mags AutoHebdo and Sport Auto.

 

David



#45 Jack-the-Lad

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Posted 30 May 2014 - 19:37

I still get out my copies of "SuperCarClassics".  Stupid name for what was a brilliant magazine.

 

You are not alone.  I get my copies out regularly as well.  I believe I have a complete set, although I've never been able to determine exactly how many issues were in the run and distribution was hit-and-miss here in the US. 

 

  It was a great magazine...beautifully written, illustrated and edited.

 

Jack