Auto Action – Like or Loath(merged AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!)

[PVDA]

So what do you think of the new look for Auto Action.

My biggest gripe was that someone forgot to include the price on the front cover so it took some convincing that it's $4.95.

[GTRMagic]

It didnt arrive in my regular newsagent today

[The Tool Man]

It probably did GTR just thats its half the size it used to be - it probably slipped under the shelf and into obscurity.

Its great Full Colour though and a good read in the lead up to Bathurst.

I agree about the price thingo - the Silly B#$$H tried to charge me $6.95 and told me its always been that. NFW I only paid the $4.95 .

[pete55]

I think it's pretty ordinary really. The Bathurst preview didn't include entrants in Konica or any of the other support categories, well didn't even mention them really. Colour is good, girl pics are good {just don't know why they are in this magazine}, car pics are the usual low standard {maybe they could swap the quality of the girl pics to the car pics}.

[GTRMagic]

They didnt have it, the newsagent normally has the AA/MN thing together for me when I rock up at 6.30am on a lonely Wednesday morning, but it had not arrived

Having now got it, the size is nutso... its like a Good Weekend magazine or something... cant fold it in half like a normal person...

Content is good for the first time in a while, Mark Winterbottom has the makings of a good interviewer

[Scott75]

It's a hell of a lot better than it used to be. Looks great with the full color. I wonder whether MN will go to weekly or stay the same now the AA have gone full color??

[Dazz]

The full colour thing is great, the size thing is not.

It's only a little bit wider, but that makes it even harder to read on the way home on our lovely spacious Sydney trains. Plus it doesn't fold naturally any more, and is too big not to fold.

And there are mostly side bars on each page so the extra size is not really being used in a advantageous way anyway.

Yeah I thought for a Bathurst preview issue ot was very light on. Big glossy pics are fine for browsing at the news agents, but it's the articles (fact or fiction) that should be the main focus.

I know it's politically incorrect to say it, but the girly pics have definitely improved though in the latest issue!

[rocket]

the color is good, the girls are good, the bathurst preview is ****, the coverage of the world scene is better. but i wonder how long till they up the price, maybe thats why its not printed on it???????????

[Food Processor]

When in doubt, ask an expert, so I rang Mrs Foody's cousin, who works in the print industry.

He said that the main reason for the change in AA's format/size has nothing to do with making the mousetrap bigger, better or anything else. With the new size, you can print three pages across on a single run instead of two, so it is cheaper to print that way. That is why supermarket catalogues and real estate magazines are the same size; quick, cheap, etc.

He also pointed out some things that I did not pick up. The outside pages (cover to P6, P55-60) are on different paper to the rest of the magazine, so the print quality and colour are better. Check out how dull the colour is in the pic of Richo's VY is on P7, compared to the pic of The Kid's BA opposite. Then he started babbling on about ink density and heat-finishing and he lost me.

He laughed his head off about the lack of a cover price. Apparently, that is sacred and a BIG drama for a publisher.

One thing I did notice was that there is a big difference between the outside and the inside of the magazine. All the current racing reports (MotoGP, WRC and ARC) are right at the back. All those bits had to be done after the weekend. When you get inside, almost all the stories are a week old - Spurle for Mosler, Vermeulen wins SuperSport title, features. They were done well in advance, obviously.

The Bathurst preview is very basic, though I liked the Winterbottom and Richo story. Another story on building a new VY (didn't they just do that with Dynamic?) And the news? Murphy to DJR, which both deny in the story. The rest is "I can do this, I can do that" and lots of photos of the editor. No update on the NZ V8 date, no news on McFadyen's Dynamic Konica drive, nothing on the latest TEGA and Holden teams inquiry.

It does look better but will it stay at 60 pages? Will the cover price stay the same for long? Will they ever get any real news? I suppose we will have to wait until things settle down after Bathurst to know for sure.

[GTRMagic]

While Motorsport News streaks ahead in leaps and bounds.

It is said that the true success of a printed publication is the number of advertisements in it... how interested are commercial partners in publishing their wares in your journal.

On this basis alone, ignoring content, Motorsport News outrates AA 2 to 1...

[RaceTime]

I couldn't believe it when I just bought it (had to do something while getting the nail extracted from the Tarago's rear tyre

The size may make sense to a printer but NOT to the consumer and definately NOT to the newsagents who then have to fold them to send them to their sub-agencies!!! Being such an odd sze means they are now getting damaged when sent with other mags.

As for lack of a cover price - well I only paid $3.50 for it - simply because - no cover price it was a barter situation - they had nothing to show what the price is so I offered what I thought it was worth. Have to say though that he rejected the 10 cent offer ...

[Mattracer]

Yes but I'd rather read news than look at ads for springs, although the job vacancies in the teams make for interesting reading.

Size is weird, almost like it's gone all trendy but the colour is great. Pretty good overall I thought. I'd still buy MN regularly if it was weekly and the stories hadn't been covered by AA ahead of them.

[Mattracer]

I paid $4.95 as per usual and there was no quibbling over the price, even I though I couldn't see it anywhere on the cover.

[GTRMagic]

No point having news if the thing doesnt turn a buck.... ACP doesnt like to lose, hence the return of M.Fogarty...

I prefer MN's Autosport-inspired size myself

[prn 31]

I don't think that AA looked too bad - but it is a wierd size. My copy had a price tag, and of course the printers didn't leave off the bar code (a mortal sin) and most of the newsagents have scanners now, anyway.

It would seem editorially its a bit over the place with Fogarty being O/S. One of the readers picked up Asst Ed Tim Robson as being a bit lightweight and he is. Only one letter got a reply.

Yes, the Konica stuff isn't there, but there were apologies that some usual segments were absent - so lets wait and see.

The Winterbottam a article was a breath of fresh air, the GRM studio photos was interesting and the Rev was on form as usual. Haven't read Foges track test yet - an indulgence, but never forget that Foges is a world class scribbler, so it should be interesting.

Now if we can bring back Tech Talk, it would be close to its peak when Edwards was in the chair. I don't agree with GTR that MN is a better read, I find that its a bit all over the place - better size though.