Sidepodcast

Autosport Magazine to Add Digital Option

Credit: theseanster93 (creative commons)

A stack of paper magazines - the old way of doing things?

This week, F1 fans received some excellent, and forward-thinking, news from the fine folks at the publishing company Haymarket. A forum post appeared on Wednesday with an announcement of an announcement, but this time it was about something we've long been calling for.

The post, written by Autosport.com's Publishing Manager, read:

Following on from the trial during the postal strike of last year, and based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback it received, I can let you know that a digital version of AUTOSPORT will be launched next month.

There will be a formal announcement in due course, but the digital version will be free to existing magazine subscribers and we will offer it at a discounted price to Autosport.com PLUS subscribers.

We've been pushing for more and more in the way of online resources from publishers because quite honestly, it's the future. Mr C wrote a two-part rant back in August last year, entitled Print is Dead, and since then, we've gradually started to see a bit of a shift. When the postal strike hit, the major flaw in the print subscription model was highlighted. What was already out of date information became even more irrelevant by the time it reached consumer doormats, and in some cases it never showed up at all. The introduction of a temporary digital installment of the magazine was a stroke of genius, and a great way to deal with the problem, but it was a sad moment when it disappeared.

Previously, we'd been interested in purchasing the online subscription to Racecar Engineering, which is available through digital publishers Zinio. At the moment, the service isn't ideal, requiring you to download custom reading software. However, Zinio are working on an iPhone app, albeit one that's only available in the US at the moment. Presumably this will scale up for the iPad, and once available in the UK, we'd definitely consider subscribing to RCE. Mr C can then pretend to understand a digital version of the magazine, instead of the paper version.

For us, the ideal solution for an online magazine format is a PDF file, as showcased so well by GP+. Files are easy to archive and more importantly, you can search for words and phrases and find what you're looking for directly from your desktop. The solution that Autosport.com used to cover the postal strike trial, and presumably will continue to adopt for the upcoming subscription model, is provided by Ceros. This system provides a flash version of the magazine with scrollable pages and clickable links. It's a huge step in the right direction, but still isn't quite as accessible as we'd like.

All reservations aside, though, this is brilliant news from Haymarket, and has restored a little of our faith in their ability to adapt to changing technologies. This is the only way we would ever have subscribed to the weekly Autosport magazine again, and we shall be doing just that.

The real beneficiaries of this, though, are not us here in the UK, but the people living overseas who have to wait for their magazines to be shipped, and have nothing of an equivalent nature in their own countries. USF1 are bringing international fans to Formula 1, and now Autosport will bring timely F1 features and insight to them.

The information is at our fingerprints, but most importantly, at everybody's fingertips at the same time. Autosport are taking the right steps, even if they are baby ones. F1 Racing, it's now over to you.

Pushing the Envelope

We've already mentioned this week how agreeable we find online magazines over their paper counterparts. Any chance we get, we'll plug GP+. See? However, it seems the teams are also starting to find the beauty in online publishing.

Earlier in the year, Toyota started up an online magazine called Push to coincide  with the release of the new car and the start of the season. At the time, I thought it would be a one-off, something to go with their movie-style online launch, but I have been proved wrong.

Issue 4 recently came out, and is packed full of interesting insight. Interviews with team members, previews of the final few upcoming races - particularly Abu Dhabi, plus a rather good look at the drivers seat and how it keeps him safe. The magazine is available as an online read - one of those fancy page turning things - or as a pdf download, and best of all, it's absolutely free.

As I was checking the links for this post, I also discovered the new Push blog from Toyota, started at the very end of September. It looks packed with videos, photos and snippets of life in the paddock, and very refreshingly states from the outset that they won't be talking performance or politics. The mission statement says:

Our blog authors – all long-term team members travelling to the race tracks around the world – will share moments of the team’s life and deliver behind-the-scenes-stories explaining what Formula 1 is all about. Jarno, Timo and Kamui will be invited to open the book of their lives as Formula 1 drivers as well.

That is pretty much all we want as fans, so I salute Toyota for attempting to reach out and connect with us. The blog is a great addition to the Push brand, as my main complaint about the magazine was its infrequency. Four issues a year is tricky to promote. Although it isn't news based, and doesn't necessarily need to be timely, it's easy to forget the magazine exists between issues. The blog seems to be updated on a more regular basis.

That's my only real complaint though. The magazine has great info, the blog seems to be shaping up nicely, and it also adds positive vibes towards the team's future. I'd love to hear what you think, though, of the magazine, the concept, and of course, the blog. Let's hope for a good reaction, as it could give the team a push.

50+ Issues and Counting

If you caught the latest episode of An Aside with Joe, you likely would have heard Joe talk about GrandPrix+ magazine reaching the milestone of its 50th released issue. We thought we'd mark the occasion with a quick plug for the original F1 e-magazine.

If you ever spend anytime in the Sidepodcast comments, you'll know we like to plug things, be it blogs, podcasts, published books or certain brands of energy drink. GP+ deserves a very special plug from us though, for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, as we have detailed many times in the past, we're not exactly fans of regular paper-based publishing, and GP+ offers everything that print cannot - instantaneous worldwide delivery, portability, indexable content and it gets released a few hours after a race is complete. One day all magazines will be delivered like this.

Additionally though, we like to plug Joe's work because he has given so much of his time to the Aside series this year.

Any sensible professional journalist would insist on being paid handsomely for the effort that goes into recording podcasts from all corners of the world - including manually rewiring the hotel's Internet access in Spain, jumping through firewall hoops in China and getting up at all hours to speak from Malaysia.

If you've enjoyed listening to any of the podcasts, like the idea of being a forerunner in the rapidly changing world of media publishing, or frankly just like to learn about Formula One faster than anyone else, go subscribe to Grand Prix+ magazine now. There may only be three races remaining this year, but you'll grab yourself all 50 back issues in the process. It's only £25 GBP and it would mean a lot to us if you did.

As a quick reminder, below are links to all of the Aside shows recorded thus far - 13 in total. Both Amy and Rachel have been doing a fabulous job of transcribing these recordings, so we've added links to the PDF files too. Just like issues of GP+, text transcripts can be downloaded and searched from your computer should the need ever arise. We are eternally grateful for the efforts put in by anyone in the community who help lighten the transcription workload, and help make the podcasts even more useful.

The Aside So Far...

• Guardians of a Tradition
• Let's Get on With the Proper Game of Motor Racing
• It's About Providing Interest and Excitement and Entertainment
• Talk Is Always Cheap in Formula One
• Formula 1 Teams Like to Keep Things Secret
• What's the Point in Having 3 Championships, When You Can Have 1?
• The Customer Always Comes First
• The Politics of a Free Lunch
• Two Against One
• Nobody Comes Here Unless They Have To
• Ben-Hur Without the Horses
• Pretending Not to Pretend to Sandbag
• Everybody Wants to be a Formula 1 Driver

Don't forget, we're always open to more questions for Joe in future shows, please add them to the wiki page and we'll get to them when we can.

Sidepodcast Diaries 18 - Let Pictures Tell the Story

Christine tells of the other half of Sidepodcast's recent publication, and encourages you to share your enjoyment of it at meandpage22.co.uk.

Transcript

Christine: Hello, this is just a quick diary because it occurs to me, I'm doing the exact same thing as I did last year. Woohoo, Sidepodcast Diaries is back. Uh oh, the season's started, no time to do anything. So with this one video, I am already better than last year.

I do actually have a point to my ramblings though because in this month's F1 Racing, the other half of Sidepodcast had a photo published. He was pretty excited about it and he's been insufferable ever since.

[Text reads: His comment on Sidepodcast: SIDEPODPICTURE in f1 frickin' racing magazine, baby!]

To celebrate this achievement, Alex from Sofa F1 set up a web page at mendpage22.co.uk. The idea is for anyone who has this month's edition of F1 Racing to go out and take a picture of themselves and page 22 so that we know that people love it.

We've had some great submissions already. Alex himself took page 22 on a tour of London, Lukeh took page 22 on a bike ride, and Jackie put page 22 under the microscope. Here's me and the panda with page 22.

[Pictures]

If you happen to have the magazine lying around and access to a camera, please take a pic and go and upload it at meandpage22.co.uk. It would make the man's day. If you don't have the magazine, or can't be bothered, don't worry about it. His ego's too big anyway.

Episode 97 - It's Better Than Silence, Cos Silence is Bad

• Length: 43:09 
• Size: 36.1 MB 
• File: episode97.mp3 
• Enhanced: episode97.m4a 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: episode97.torrent 

This week we distract ourselves from the anticipation with talk of the beginnings of an FIA/FOTA war, a final testing update, and that long-awaited predictions montage.

Intro

We got a shoutout during Sebring, which made it great, even though it didn't work out for Franck.

Good Week / Bad Week

It's a good week for KERs and for naming street corners, but a bad week for Brawn GP at the wrong end of the pitlane, and Jean Todt who didn't get to have any cake.

News and Views

McLaren seem to have picked the pace up slightly, and Charlie Whiting is starting to put his foot down. Meanwhile, FOTA and the FIA look as though they might be starting a war. There is definitely something simmering.

Fantasy Racers

A few stats before we get the season started, such as which countries are popular, which drivers are being chosen a lot, who I have chosen, and how much they all cost. We also take a quick look at the leagues - and find out which one I am top of!

Feedback

The 2009 Australia Predictions Montage.

Housekeeping

Mr C is now a published photographer, with our thanks going out to Racecar Engineering for making his day. There are F1 Digest previews in the works, if you have missed them, and we will let you know the schedule for the race weekend as soon as we can.

Linkage

• Fantasy Racers
• Radio Le Mans
• Racecar Engineering
• F1 Digest
• Sidepodcast Wiki

In Print

A while ago you may remember we posted about McLaren testing at Kemble. The thread kicked off a bunch of debate about whether or not the team were suffering some serious pre-season aero problems, and with hindsight it looks like they very well might have been.

Earlier today we picked up a copy of this months Racecar Engineering magazine, which features a technical rundown of challenges that all the teams face this year, and on page 7 we spotted a familiar looking photograph:

I think it's the first time one of our pictures has ever appeared in print, and as you can imagine we're somewhat excited about it. Huge thanks go to Craig and Sam for getting the shot into the magazine, and we might have to go and buy several copies for sidpodposterity. If you happen to be in your local newsagents, we recommend you grab a copy for yourself too.

As each month passes Christine is finding it more and more difficult to find fault with RCE, it is a little geeky and I probably only understand 50% of what's written, but I think the photographic inclusion this month may have swung in my favour for ever more.

Magazine Review - The Red Bulletin

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

Red Bull have made a name for themselves in the short time they've been in the paddock. Not afraid of a bit of fun, youthful, corporate sponsorship, their tie-ins with movies have caused great amusement. No other team principal would make a bet that involved jumping into a swimming pool with few clothes on. More importantly, no other team principal would, upon losing the bet, follow through with his promise.

The drivers are outspoken, friendly and generally quite young, and with two teams lining up on the grid, you can't blink without seeing that red logo.

It's not just on the grid that Red Bull have made inroads. They started a magazine back in 2005 that was written, printed, and distributed only at race weekends, and only within grounds of the circuit. Although available for free on the website, you had to turn up to each race to get your hands on the physical magazine.

It was a good read, as well. Thoroughly Formula 1 related, with interviews, articles, history, cartoons, and plenty of stunning photography. The four issues over a GP weekend were packed full of information, and provided entertainment for everyone who picked one up. Well, perhaps not quite everyone, as it was well known that Ron Dennis didn't enjoy the magazine. He might be the only one, though.

The magazine required well over 20 staff, and sadly, the economic crunch has hit. For the 2009 season, the magazine has changed radically. It is now a monthly supplement, given away for free with purchase of the UK's Independent newspaper. Although still available online, it is vastly different. It features a range of the sports Red Bull are involved in, with Formula 1 being only a part of it.

The features take on a more lifestyle magazine approach, with discussions on music, various products, and more personal interviews with the various sportstars. Red Bull tend to stick to extreme sports, so the photographs are still stunning, even if the concept has changed dramatically.

All in all, it's become a completely different product. Now aimed more at men than at Formula 1 fans, I wouldn't purchase it. I don't mind checking out the free pdf, but I can't say I read it in depth anymore.

ING / F1 Racing Survey Results

A couple of days ago, Scott W gave us a quick summary of the ING/F1 Racing Global Fan Survey results. The stats were printed in this months issue of the magazine, and as things have been a bit hectic at Sidepodcast Towers recently, I hadn't had a chance to do any more than look at the pictures.

However, some of the things Scott pointed out are worthy of attention. It's hardly a surprise that Hamilton picks up the highest percentage in the favourite driver category, closely followed by Raikkonen and Alonso. I am surprised at the margin, though, as many polls I've seen recently have put Fernando at the top of most popular driver, and he has only 12% to Lewis' 27%.

Scott also pointed out that poor Trulli is the least favourite driver with only 0.1%, but I don't want to dwell on it too much, as the Trulliometer is a very fragile thing.

The top five are made up of drivers who won a race this year, hit the headlines a lot, and were in the public eye more than they've ever been before. The sixth most popular driver is Jenson Button, and if I were him, I would be really happy with that. He's had a rubbish year, been screwed over by his team, and suffered a lack of attention as a British driver. As 6th highest, he beats 17 other drivers, including the ever-popular Vettel, and I think that can only be good for Button's career.

The Future of F1 category has almost 50% of participants wanting more races on the calendar, whilst 90% want F1 to continue at classic venues (read: Canada). Sadly, both of these aren't happening with circuits falling off the calendar at a frightening pace. Reverse grids are an unpopular idea with only 17%, and banning refuelling is also pretty low down - 18%. On that last point, the majority of respondents then, will not be impressed with the 2010 season.

The BBC should take note of the "What you want to see more of on TV" category, as it has some serious hints for their coverage. Interviews with drivers and engineers are immensely popular, whilst random celebrities don't get the thumbs up. Please no cringeworthy gridwalks, BBC. Most of the options around the 50% mark are about getting more information, such as increased team radio, access to telemetry and more on board cameras.

Overtaking is the most important thing in F1 for most participants, with the best drivers and good commentary falling behind. Sponsorship, road-relevance and glamour are not really top priorities.

Finally, there seems to be mass confusion over next year's rule changes. Only 41% think slicks will make the racing more interesting, 64% won't judge KERS until they've seen the evidence out on track, although 16% believe it will increase excitement.

Unfortunately, that's all the statistics we have at the moment. Just five sets of results were printed in the magazine, and I can't seem to find anymore anywhere else. I know I answered more than five questions, but perhaps the other results will be forthcoming soon.

There has been some criticism of the survey on the web already, with some worries that it's a very narrow selection of people - F1 Racing readers mostly. However, I would say that I saw that survey advertised everywhere I went for at least a week, you could hardly miss it. You have to take all survey results with a pinch of salt, as you do with any analyses that come out from it.

Nevertheless, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the results of the survey, whether it was worth taking, and if you think anything will come of it.

Magazine Review - GPWEEK

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

GPWEEK is a free online magazine that is available weekly. It covers a few different areas of motorsport including Formula 1, MotoGP and World Rally Championship.

The Formula 1 content is extremely well written and insightful, and as the magazine doesn't have to wait for printers, it is up to date and informative. GPWEEK is available every Monday, and after a race weekend it is full of all the gossip from the paddock, including results, analysis, and a team by team review. The pictures are sometimes stunning, and even though I skip through the non-F1 content, I do find all the pictures worth looking at. The very last page of the magazine is a "Parting Shot" and it's always something fascinating.

The online distribution model is an interesting one. The magazine is available to view online, assuming that your browser allows it. You can scroll through the pages of the magazine, which is displayed in a regular page by page fashion. Where there are advertisements you can click on the links if you want to visit for further information. If you want to keep the magazine, or can't view it on the browser, there is a PDF download available. The pictures are of inferior quality to those on the web, but it is another format to read it in.

My favourite thing about the magazine though, is that you can sign up to get email reminders that it's available. Every Monday morning I open my inbox and find the reminder that tells me GPWEEK is available. I head straight there and browse through the F1 contents, enjoy the pictures, and then carry on with my day. Without the email, I probably wouldn't remember to go there, but I think that's more of a reflection on my memory than the quality of the magazine.

There have so far been 27 issues of GPWEEK, it started in March 2008. All the previous issues are available in the archive for download, as well as the high quality online version. I highly recommend GPWEEK as worth a look, it's free and very easy to use.

F1 Racing to Recovery

F1 Racing magazine has come in for a lot of stick in recent months, exacerbated by the personal attack on Ralf Schumacher by The Bish. It was branded outdated and unnecessary, and generally written off by a lot of previously dedicated readers.

Personally, I’m a fan of the magazine. There are few periodicals I get these days that can hold my attention, and considering how much F1 already consumes my world, I’m impressed that F1 Racing can get me to read it from cover to cover. (Back to front, incidentally, always.)

It’s glossy and beautiful and focuses on the people rather than the action. Whilst we spend ages analysing results and reading up on the intricacies of the Dumbo-Flugel, F1 Racing does the opposite. For every two pages of race coverage, there is a six page interview with Frank Dernie. A couple of pages on tyre technology is evened out with a ten page special on the three championship contenders. There’s something insightful about it that I love.

Clearly I'm sold, but what can be done to turn it around so that everyone else loves them too?

Everyday People

Firstly, the Bish left. He now works for McLaren, doing a sterling job in the marketing and media department. There haven’t been many visible changes since he left, although the mood of the magazine does seem to be slightly more uplifting than it had been under his watchful rule. According to the back page, the July issue is going to be all-change, so new editor Hans Seeburg will finally be able to stamp his mark.

Elsewhere in the team, F1 Racing has some stunning names. They acquired Bradley Lord from the Renault press office, they have all the experience of Peter Windsor, and the technical expertise of Steve Matchett. Plus, the photographers they have out in the field are all incredible.

With these top bods on board, I don’t see how F1 Racing can do anything other than go from strength to strength.

So Retro

The one thing the mag is missing is an online presence. Of course they have a site, and it’s got the details about the latest issue and the obligatory F1 calendar and championship stats. But there’s not much scope for interacting with the fans, the people that are going to buy the magazine.

Recently, we have been able to get involved with the Reader Panel, where questions are submitted to be posed to people like Frank Williams and Ross Brawn. That’s good. And F1 Racing have awards and surveys where they print the ACTUAL results and take on board the publics opinions.

It’s still not enough though. We’ve already seen that Steve Matchett is capable of presenting great video content and F1 Racing once made a solitary video podcast back in 2006.

Bradley Lord did a stunning job at Renault, as the driving force behind their official blog. Comments and questions were, get this, answered by someone within the team. Of course he was constrained on some of the things he could and couldn’t say, but it was definitely something special. I can’t tell you the heartbreak in Sidepodcast Towers when he left for this mag. Where’s the Renault blog now, eh?

F1 Racing could capitalise on these skills and knowledge. They’ve got the talent on board and they’ve got the scope to expand on their existing material. It’s a difficult world for print media at the moment, but I see the way forward as embracing the online experience, rather than just clinging on to the edge of it.