1604 replies to this topic

[LordAston]

I ask myself the question posted. I have been buying Motor Sport on and off for a good number of years but during these past few with the increase in watches and adverts I have found myself losing interest in even buying the magazine. I have since found Automobilsport which although published 4 times a year is lightyears ahead of the magazine IMO. Anyone else out there with simikar feelings.

[JoBo]

I ask myself the question posted. I have been buying Motor Sport on and off for a good number of years but during these past few with the increase in watches and adverts I have found myself losing interest in even buying the magazine. I have since found Automobilsport which although published 4 times a year is lightyears ahead of the magazine IMO. Anyone else out there with simikar feelings.

 

I get it every month since about 8 or 9 years now.

 

Well, -for me- a little too much of the American stuff. Frankel`s tests and reports are ok- but he likes everything that comes from Great Britain and wants new every car being a race car.

 

I like their F1 analysis and Doug Nye`s features.

 

JoBo

Edited by JoBo, 07 July 2016 - 21:53.

[Doug Nye]

Anything anybody does can always be better. Don't doubt high aspirations there...

 

DCN

[Jeff Weinbren]

I find Nigel Roebuck's and Doug's columns worth the price!! 

Jeff.

Edited by Jeff Weinbren, 07 July 2016 - 23:27.

[cooper997]

The publishing caper is a place where it's hard to please everyone all of the time. But if the readers don't support Motor Sport as often as possible, then it will be lost for good. And we don't want to see DCN, NR, SA, GC & co have to re-train for another profession

 

So still worth waiting 3 months for the 'cheap' seamail editon to arrive in Oz.

 

Stephen

[Jack-the-Lad]

I find Nigel Roebuck's and Doug's columns worth the price!! 
Jeff.

...and "Lunch With....." is another of my favorites.

[Hank the Deuce]

I tell myself that I only buy it when there's something that piques my interest... but I seem to purchase it every month...

[Parkesi]

My remarks below regarding the quality of distribution/delivery are still valid. MotorSport very kindly offered to cancel 

my subscription! Isn`t this absurd? This is no way to handle an excellent product and it is no way to treat a

longtime subscriber. Please gurus Nye, Roebuck, Taylor, Smith and all TAKE NOTE!

It is your hard work which is not promoted and sold in a professional way. Andreas

 

I would like to take the opportunity and ask European subscribers of MotorSport when they receive their magazine.

The publication is second to none and the journalists are the best of their profession but the distribution/delivery is a constant nightmare.

Nowadays it takes 3 weeks to reach my mailbox – in Germany. This I find not acceptable in the 21th century.

The subscription dept. promised to take care of the trouble many many times but nothing ever improved – quite the contrary instead.

Your feedback is most appreciated. A faithful but VERY frustrated subscriber. AH 

 

 

[F1matt]

I still think its the best magazine out there, I do understand your points about features on high end watches though, its almost as if they think their readers attend most GP's in the paddock club and are influenced by Bernies wrist watch producing pals. Motorsport have the blend right, I read online last week that Damien Smith is leaving, it will be interesting to see what happens when the new editor comes in. 

[jcbc3]

My remarks below regarding the quality of distribution/delivery are still valid. MotorSport very kindly offered to cancel 

my subscription! Isn`t this absurd? This is no way to handle an excellent product and it is no way to treat a

longtime subscriber. Please gurus Nye, Roebuck, Taylor, Smith and all TAKE NOTE!

It is your hard work which is not promoted and sold in a professional way. Andreas

 

I would like to take the opportunity and ask European subscribers of MotorSport when they receive their magazine.

The publication is second to none and the journalists are the best of their profession but the distribution/delivery is a constant nightmare.

Nowadays it takes 3 weeks to reach my mailbox – in Germany. This I find not acceptable in the 21th century.

The subscription dept. promised to take care of the trouble many many times but nothing ever improved – quite the contrary instead.

Your feedback is most appreciated. A faithful but VERY frustrated subscriber. AH 

 

 

I have the exact same issue with CAR magazine. I am afraid the English side of the channel can't do anything about it, but that it's rather the shoddy postal services on continental Europe.

[Stephen W]

I started with Motor Sport in 1965 and stopped in the mid to late 90s. I did have a subscription in the 2000s but stopped it after several issues with missed copies and damaged copies.

 

I now just buy it if there is something that interests me.

[john winfield]

I have the exact same issue with CAR magazine. I am afraid the English side of the channel can't do anything about it, but that it's rather the shoddy postal services on continental Europe.

This is strange. I post card envelopes, Motor Sport size, from Britain all over Europe. The postal service is almost always quick (two or three days) and efficient. At this end I use the Royal Mail 'International Standard' large letter airmail service.

I assume that Motor Sport uses a cheaper 'printed paper' delivery rate, with Royal Mail or another carrier, and that low cost results unfortunately in poor service. Can anyone from the magazine outline the economics involved and say whether a two-tier international delivery service might be available for anyone wanting their copy quickly, and prepared to pay a little extra?

[Claudio Navonne]

Personally, I  fell in love the magazine in the early seventies, when I was a teenager. I vividly remember the cover of Motor Sport with photo of Moss winning Monsanto, on the shelf of a bookstore that sold magazines and used books. In those years it was very difficult and expensive (for me) to get the magazine in Buenos Aires. Then in 1982 the unfortunate Malvinas/Falklands War destroy any link for several years.
Today, thanks to a world that has shrunk thanks to the internet and my economic possibilities I'm proud owner of a collection of all the magazines from January 1950 to January 1979, trying to complete it until today. Also I am a subscriber for more than 10 years. I wait anxiously every month. The distribution system is very good today (yesterday I received the magazine with James Garner on the cover), after several problems last year (although I think in the mail have stolen my gift for having renewed subscription    )

[kayemod]

I find Nigel Roebuck's and Doug's columns worth the price!! 

Jeff.

 

Me too, but the magazine's content is a curious mix, hard to see sometimes who they think they're catering for. For me they could lose almost all the road car stuff, unless thay can find someone who doesn't produce an endless stream of flatulent Pseuds Corner type prose. The stuff I barely skim through is more than made up for by Nigel, Simon, Doug, Mark etc, some of the occasional writers like Richard Heseltine are very good as well. We'll all be very sad if it doesn't continue, even along present lines, and I speak as an inveterate watch collector.

[bill p]

I enjoy all aspects of Motor Sport including Andrew Frankel's Road Tests.

Bill P

[alansart]

Me too, but the magazine's content is a curious mix, hard to see sometimes who they think they're catering for. For me they could lose almost all the road car stuff, unless thay can find someone who doesn't produce an endless stream of flatulent Pseuds Corner type prose. The stuff I barely skim through is more than made up for by Nigel, Simon, Doug, Mark etc, some of the occasional writers like Richard Heseltine are very good as well. We'll all be very sad if it doesn't continue, even along present lines, and I speak as an inveterate watch collector.

 

I feel exactly the same. I don't bother with the road car stuff and ignore the watch ads (income has to be generated from somewhere!). As long as the current nucleus of racing journalists and historians remain onboard, I'll continue to buy the magazine

[RA Historian]

I am a bit baffled by some of the negative comments. While I realize that we all have different tastes, the bashing of the best mag out there does little good. I have subscribed for 20 years now, and while I am angered by the always one month late arrival of the mag here in the US. it is my favorite magazine and I eagerly devour it. The columns by Nigel and Doug are avidly read, the Lunch with is always enjoyable, and the features on fondly remembered drivers and marques are good reading. Those who respond to imagined slights by holding their breath, turning red, and ceasing to buy are not improving their situation one bit and in fact are spoiling it for the rest of us if falling circulation occurs.

 

As far as all the watch ads, don't you understand that they help pay for the mag and in fact keep the cover price down? Also, the watch makers would not advertise in Motor Sport if they did not believe that the readers' demographics represent a good market for their product.

 

My final word to Damien, NIgel, Doug, et al, is to keep it up; you are doing it right!

 

Tom

[Dunc]

I think it is pretty good but I only tend to buy it when I see something which particularly intersts me.  The recent issue with a Berger interview and Lunch with Montoya was great - two of my favourite F1 characters from my childhood and teens and I plan to buy the current Grand Prix special.  The photography is excellent and even articles which don't make me want to buy the mag are usually pretty good.  My main issue it the pice - almost £5 an issue is a lot to pay so I want to make sure I am going to get something I enjoy.  Motor Sport isn't the only magazine I apply this mentality to; the two magazines I spent most of my teens reading were Autosport and Empire and back then, in the 90s, I bought them both as a matter of course but now, with the price each issue costs, I am only willing to shell out when I know there is something of interest to me.  This is proabably a shame as I'm sure I'm missing out on articles on things I may actually find interesting but I'm just not willing to spend money on them with the risk I won't enjoy them anymore.

[Jack-the-Lad]

The late arrival in the U.S. doesn't bother me much. It isn't like the contents are especially perishable. I do wish there were more of it, though.

[chunder27]

The vast majority of modern magazines I find utterly poor value, hence I buy only very few and very sparingly. I did start reading some off road motorcycle magazines recently that were very god value at 3 quid. And bought them for some times but I guess no would be shocked that they went bust quickly as they couldnt make enough money, while car magazines are all in the 5 quid plus range and that is just too much for me I am afraid. Poor value. When they are rammed with advertising, some of it relevant  but most of it just tinsel.

 

The issue with magazines likie Motorsport and Octane and their like is that the readership is very monied, hence the advertising is extremely relevant to the readers and also very easy to sell as it is often very polarized and unique to that clientele and no others.

 

Some of the features are excellent.

 

But sadly as with a lot of magazines, I read the cover with optimism and then find the feature I want to read is 4 pages long and full of pictures.

 

Looks great in a design office, but not worth a fiver sadly.

[Charlieman]

The adverts for watches, private banking services, million pound auctions aren't directed at me, probably not at you. Motor Sport magazine no longer has full page ads for fags and booze, so we have to put up with stuff that is irrelevant to us but significant to part of the magazine's readership. Andrew Frankel's pages -- and there are a lot of them -- no doubt bring in serious advertising money. We read the for sale adverts at the back of the magazine to see which cars are changing hands and which dealers tell the biggest porkies. 

 

In the olden days, it was interesting to see which tired magazines were on the table in doctors and dentist waiting rooms; the choice went from Woman's Own to Flight, Car via Country Life and the "county set" rag. Nowadays there are no magazines in the waiting room and patients are expected to entertain themselves by watching videos about genital warts on a huge flat screen. Give me the knitting patterns any day.

 

When I first started reading Motor Sport magazine in 1977, WB's selection of content and photo on the cover can only be described as eclectic or catholic. It helped to form my taste and to open my mind. Nowadays I'm absorbed by stories which as a teenager I viewed to be "what is he on about now?" Autosport at the time had great coverage of club motor sport, affordable events and competitors making an individual contribution. WB's version of Motor Sport was financially successful for many years, but it changed when it didn't make money.

 

Contemporary Motor Sport magazine will never be a publication of record. It doesn't try to record what happens at this year's races -- that is what the internet is for, and I wish that there were more organisations archiving internet content. The great things about MS magazine are the opinions and contrariness. Writers and readers get worked up about historical accuracy. And they get even more worked up about "the sport".

 

If I was editing the magazine, I'd give more space to book and video reviews. It's free advertising, I appreciate, but if the magazine is not selling an advert then there is no loss.

[Charlieman]

Looks great in a design office, but not worth a fiver sadly.

Editors need to read their magazines in the same environments as ordinary readers. They know -- or should know -- that colours on screen may be different in print. So they should apply the same principles to the whole magazine. Have all of the user experience and accessibility people in publishing moved over to web content?

 

If I'm looking at 10 point type in white over a black and white photograph, it is readable on a screen or on paper under a reading lamp; it is not easily readable in bed. Photo captions? Pale orange type on white paper acknowledgements are an insult to the photographers or agencies. The Motor Sport Month in Pictures: tiddly black text on olive green background. These are novice lay up errors. The folks in the design studio should take a look at the dealer adverts for typography and accessibility lessons.

[nexfast]

The late arrival in the U.S. doesn't bother me much. It isn't like the contents are especially perishable. I do wish there were more of it, though.

Absolutely in agreement. No one looks for news material in the magazine, it is the type of reading where you need time to taste and enjoy, in particular the Lunch with..., DCN contributions, Gordon Kirby postcards from America and Richard Heseltine's articles (as well as reader's mail, you learn a lot there). Although I religiously read Nigel Roebuck's prose - he is a fantastic writer - I sometimes have a feeling of "déjà vu", almost sure I've seen that quote from Andretti or Ireland already in a past edition of Autosport 10 or 20 years ago. Like Charlieman I would also enjoy some more pages dedicated to book and video reviews. Frankel is divisive, I must say, sometimes slightly irritant in his absence of self-doubt but we cannot deny him a lively personal style.

[chunder27]

Simply put, it is a very hard thing these days to run a car magazine. And to make money doing so.

 

You need something different, relevant and that perhaps offers something that others do not.

 

Otherwise you are simply relying on habit.

 

And as most car, house and breakdown insurance companies will tell you, that habit pays the bills, not the new customers.

[LordAston]

I will repeat my statement that I'm not so keen on Motor Sport at present. Automobilsport has some fantastic writers ie. Karl Ludvigsen, Janos Wimpffen & John Davenport. Plus given my limited time I can get through an issue in 3 months as it is only published 4 times a year. I do recommend that you give it a try.

[bill p]

In the July 2016 with the Fernando Alonso interview the leader on the cover outlined, " I want to win the Indy 500 & Le Mans". That should be an interesting feature, I thought. I read through the feature looking forward to Fernando's thoughts on the two Events. My interest was answered in 17 words, "It's a big challenge and if I'm happy and motivated still, maybe that can be my challenge".

A misleading headline, I thought..........

[LittleChris]

Decisions, Decisions,

I've got 2 more issues on my current subscription but still not sure whether to renew.
I've been reading the Green 'Un since 1972 when introduced to it as a 10 year old,though missed a few issues in the late 90's.

I don't read the Frankel nor the bling bits and both are getting bigger.

I also feel there's less in there of interest to me than before and as someone mentioned earlier, dear old Nigel has a habit of repeating himself.

Hurts me to say so but I can't see it being around in 10 years even if it goes fully online.

But should I renew now ?

[bill p]

At the price of a pint of beer it's not as if we are emptying our pockets to buy Motor Sport.....

The magazine is well worth it and if you don't like road tests or Watches, you don't have to read those features

Edited by bill p, 09 July 2016 - 14:26.

[sabrejet]

I ask myself the question posted. I have been buying Motor Sport on and off for a good number of years but during these past few with the increase in watches and adverts I have found myself losing interest in even buying the magazine. I have since found Automobilsport which although published 4 times a year is lightyears ahead of the magazine IMO. Anyone else out there with simikar feelings.

 

Automobilsport! Now we're talking. No idea how they produce such a quality magazine for the price, but long may they do so.

 

But comparison with Motor Sport is unfair: the former is something one would cherish and keep; the other a mag to read on the train and throw in the bin upon arrival. Both good, but at opposite ends of the scale. Like comparing haute cuisine and chewing gum I think.

[Stephen W]

All the motoring magazines/newspapers are suffering circulation drop-off. Compare the current figures to the 70s, 80s and 90s to see the difficulties they all face. Having adverts and articles about watches is a very small price to pay for the continued existence of these texts.

 

I doubt that a pure motor sport orientated magazine with no 'exoctic' adverts would be viable now-a-days.

 

Personally I wouldn't want to spend my savings on a Ferrari, Aston Martin or McLaren road car but if by featuring road tests of these beasts the magazines keep afloat then so be it.

[kayemod]

Personally I wouldn't want to spend my savings on a Ferrari, Aston Martin or McLaren road car but if by featuring road tests of these beasts the magazines keep afloat then so be it.

 

I agree absolutely, I wasn't criticising about Motor Sport content so much as the way some of it is presented. I have absolutely nothing against Andrew Frankel, don't think I've ever met the man, though I know a few people who have, I just can't stand his attitude and the way he pontificates. A man who tells us he often drives pretty much on the limit on UK public roads, and damned a clearly very good car (Alfa Giulia) because he couldn't disengage its stability control, doesn't live in the same world as the rest of us. I hope I never meet him coming the other way. Sure, he has to explore a car's capabilities, but what kind of monied boy-racer types does he imagine he's catering for?

[john aston]

Head and shoulders above the rest- great writing from our friends Nigel, Doug , Simon , Damien et al; podcasts are brilliant (free to all but no mag no podcast I suggest). Like spending some time with your anorak mates in the pub. 

 

And I have said it before - DSJ apart(and he was far from perfect ) it is miles better than 'back in the day'. Rose tinted memories for some but , small ads apart, it was pretty dire in so many respects . Road car stuff was risibly dreadful , and some of The Bod's eccentricities were hard work - is it my memory or did Wartime Diaries of an RFC Officer last longer than the actual war ? Felt like it   anyway  . Reading people like Pete Lyons in Autosport was a breath of fresh air 

Edited by john aston, 09 July 2016 - 15:21.

[sabrejet]

...what kind of monied boy-racer types does he imagine he's catering for?

 

Monied boy-racer types I suspect. But as with much in mainstream media, our 'motorsport' magazines are moving increasingly towards the mundane. Lazy journalism favours a spoon-fed 'F1-only' content. But Motorsport magazine is not alone in this. A number of 'our' publications describe racers in terms such as, "Ex-F1 driver" etc. It's even been applied to Derek Bell and other notables, who are far more notable for their sportscar exploits. When I realised I was reading, "Lunch with..." on tenterhooks, waiting for an F1 reference to creep in to a conversation with a lifelong touring car driver, I decided it was time to move on. I'd already realised that Nigel Roebuck had run out of notable anecdotes and read the Castellotti/Enzo, "...e la macchina?" story enough times to recall it word for word.

 

I digress. Returning to those monied boy-racer types - they are obviously the readership these days, much of what has been said (but doubtful taken note of) points directly to a desire to allow the armchair F1 'enthusiast' to put things into context.

 

Meanwhile real motorsports enthusiasts roll their eyes and hope that something decent will come along. See 'Automobilsport' references above and add to that Speedscene and a few other publications, which do seem aware that life exists outside of the world of Bernie Ecclestone etc.

[john aston]

Try reading Simon Arron's pieces- not too much F 1 content there....My own eyes are now rolling  though as I may apparently not be ' a real motorsports enthusiast'...Ask my wife about that one.Whilst I agree Autosport (inter alia ) is at best a poor F1 Fanzine MS is far more catholic and certainly far better than anything else out there. Nigel;s' anecdotes- I repeat myself frequently too, it's an age thing -but dear old Bill Boddy's endless reminiscence about The Track sure wore thin with this reader ...   

 

ps - neither monied nor ..ahem..'boy racer' (people are still using that term ? wow)  

Edited by john aston, 09 July 2016 - 17:47.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Seven pages of the July issue devoted to new cars. Don't need that....I get it from other sources. Surely there must be another way to fill those pages.....Original reports on historically important races would be fun...and wouldn't increase the payroll!

[Stephen W]

Unfortunately Jack-the-Lad dumping the 'road tests' for Historic Racing Reports would see a drop off in circulation and that would be the death knell for the title.

 

However there should be room for both! Maybe Motor Sport should revert to the old format of having a 4 page photo montage in the middle covering historic race meetings? The reports could be fitted in like in the old days at the foot of pages or in a column with adverts.

[john aston]

Noooo! Who cares about historic race reports when you get the results(if you care)  from a website instantly? My only caveat would be that mood pieces (a la Arron) are welcome but I really don't give a fig who wins in historic racing - it's the cars and spectacle. And with due respect to the Hadfields and Strettons do I need to know on which lap (20r 3) Judy Lyons was lapped, bless her?      

[Vitesse2]

Noooo! Who cares about historic race reports when you get the results(if you care)  from a website instantly? My only caveat would be that mood pieces (a la Arron) are welcome but I really don't give a fig who wins in historic racing - it's the cars and spectacle. And with due respect to the Hadfields and Strettons do I need to know on which lap (20r 3) Judy Lyons was lapped, bless her?      

I think you might need to re-read Jack's post, John. I think Steve may have got the wrong end of the stick too, but his answer is somewhat ambiguous ...

[chunder27]

I agree with john here.

 

Motorsport should only be about features, interviews, nothing more really.

 

It is simply a choice you want to make whether yoou can put up with the downsides.

 

For me most magazines these days offer little in terms of actual reading, a lot in terms of clever design and packaging, and a lot of advertising.

 

They hvae become very much like womens consumer magazines. 

[Cirrus]

Referring back to post #35 - I think some period race reports would be great. I thoroughly enjoyed the reports of the '73 and '76 Race of Champions in the recent HSCC Superprix programme (both reprinted from Motor Sport). 

[john aston]

Ah yes- sorry. Original reports ? Hmm- I have the ones which interest me so not really too fussed . Mind you . I'd happily survive on a diet just of Lunch With , Roebuck's Ramblings and Arron's Ambling 

[kayemod]

Ah yes- sorry. Original reports ? Hmm- I have the ones which interest me so not really too fussed . Mind you . I'd happily survive on a diet just of Lunch With , Roebuck's Ramblings and Arron's Ambling 

 

Me too, but I've found much of Mark Hugh's contributions on current F1 pretty good as well. We got off to a bad start with one of his first pieces, which was more or less a hatchet job on Ron Dennis. I thought he'd misjudged the man, most unfair, and e-mailed to tell him so, which he didn't like, though I think we parted as friends. He'll almost certainly read this too so I have to be careful, but most of his later stuff has been excellent, a recent one on Ferrari especially, so credit where it's due.

[chris shaw]

As an avid reader from the late 60s who stopped reading it when it went 'off track' for a while when it changed cover colour etc I have been a regular subscriber for the last few years and have today paid my £95.99 for the next 2 year bundle.  I think it great value and look forward to receiving it just the same as I used to count the days down to Thursday as a schoolboy for Motoring News and Autosport (rubbish now).  I like the variety of NR, MH, SA, DN articles plus the new car tests (even AF has grown on me), Moto GP (more interesting than F1 'stars' ?) and the chance to read a full length article such as Grand Prix, Jonathan Williams etc plus Lunch with.  I suggest you don't know how lucky we are to have a magazine that is put together by enthusiasts.  Look at the Parting shot end picture in this edition - Cadwell International F3 1969 - that shows they care about the real racing.

 

Don't knock it - value it !  Unless anyone has something constructive for what else comes close ?

[sabrejet]

 

 

Don't knock it - value it !  Unless anyone has something constructive for what else comes close ?

 

Um... Can't think of anything that comes close, but 'Kerbs' in Germany and the superlative Automobilsport exceed MS by some considerable margin for variety, quality and readability.

[LordAston]

Automobilsport this issue has Karl Ludvigsen talking about the Chevrolet Grand Sport, John Davenport on the MG Metro 6R4 Ian Phillips on Jordan 191 an article all about Jo Gartner and so much more. Is it just Sabrejet and kyself that have found this jem of a magazine. Actually magazine is an insult to it. It is far more than that.

Edited by LordAston, 11 July 2016 - 14:30.

[BRG]

I find MotorSport meets my needs very well.  I took Motoring News (as was) for years until it became difficult to obtain and the print production quality became unacceptable.  I switched to MS and have never looked back,  I even enjoy Mr Frankel - a car tester not afraid to tell the truth, rather than just rehashing the manufacturers PR blurb.  

 

I have never heard of Automobilsport or Kerbs, nor seen them on a UK newstand, so I don't know if they are preferable products, but if they meet your needs better than MS, then you should read them instead.  It's not rocket science.  If you don't like canals, don't buy Waterways World.  If you do buy it, don't complain that it doesn't cover cycle racing. 

[2F-001]

Is it just Sabrejet and kyself that have found this jem of a magazine.

No, it isn't. I'm quite a fan of Automobilsport too, but it's tone-of-voice, scope, intent and administrative structure are very different; it really only tackles (albeit extremely well) one aspect within MotorSport's ambit. I have never found it necessary, or indeed possible, to fairly compare the two.

[2F-001]

BRG - Automobilsport is a German-produced quarterly (with an English language edition); it's sort-of born out of the demise of Powerslide. Lavishly produced and printed, just a little 'over-styled' in some eyes (but still beautiful - and much less messy and less irrelevant than MotorSport's design) and somewhat 'drier' in overall tone (both visual and written) than MS. Has some lengthy and in-depth articles by noted non-staff contributors, plus a lot of photography I've never seen before.

I have seen it, sometimes, in WHSmith.

(I love cycle racing…)

Edited by 2F-001, 11 July 2016 - 15:12.

[BRG]

I will look out for it.  I take it that there is an English language edition as meine Deutsch ist schiesse.

[Dick Dastardly]

As an avid reader from the late 60s who stopped reading it when it went 'off track' for a while when it changed cover colour etc I have been a regular subscriber for the last few years and have today paid my £95.99 for the next 2 year bundle.  I think it great value and look forward to receiving it just the same as I used to count the days down to Thursday as a schoolboy for Motoring News and Autosport (rubbish now).  I like the variety of NR, MH, SA, DN articles plus the new car tests (even AF has grown on me), Moto GP (more interesting than F1 'stars' ?) and the chance to read a full length article such as Grand Prix, Jonathan Williams etc plus Lunch with.  I suggest you don't know how lucky we are to have a magazine that is put together by enthusiasts.  Look at the Parting shot end picture in this edition - Cadwell International F3 1969 - that shows they care about the real racing.

 

Don't knock it - value it !  Unless anyone has something constructive for what else comes close ?

For something different, I'd like to see a few articles on old cars and/or race series...eg a restrospective on the Gp2 years of the British Saloon Car Championship etc. Also, the photo of the Cadwell F3 race....Motor Sport used to co-sponsor, with Shell, the main F3 series in 1970, maybe they have enough info in their archives to do a retrospective on that, the cars and drivers?....