I'm good at opening cans of worms, arent I
Alistair, yeah the buckets fine, and probably winning that comp (thanks again) was what lead by bucket into leaning more to the strip than just a street rod. I didnt send in enough entries to win a wax attack, but i tried.
Some of what i said, the quote about lots of auckland, the maybe slightly pointed barb about Auckland, is just me echoing what I hear from alot of people down this way, specially with regard to the light the Wellington based racers, seam to be held in from the Auckland racers.
At the track, meremere alot of wellie racers get the impression we are treated as second rate or not as good as the Aucklanders, if the coverage we received on Tv from our central nationals is anything to go by, then there is some truth to it.
Not anything petrolhead or rodder has done, granted and i wasnt blaming you for it.
Rodder mag is for rods, no coverage of racing or anything else, thats cool, thats the magazines target audience and its something it does well.
Petrolhead, being free is harder to run obviously and get the balance of costs and coverage right. Theres a bit of everything, which is good, race coverage, events etc and quicker than what you see them in say Nz Hot Rod magazine.
I think from what Ive heard and seen, that the new mag is going to point at the street car scene, aussie and american with some rods, its a different kettle of fish and if they can do that magazine as good as they do Classic car and Performance car mag, i think they will have a winner on their hands.
Im not bagging anyone or anything, al mags are like anything or anyone, going to have their strengths and weaknesses.
Ignition Mag the online one seems to be starting out very well also, a nice blend of old and new, jap and V8, which I actually am pleased to see. But then the costs of doing that, as an online mag are obviously way cheaper than putting something on the shelves in a book shop, who knows it may progress to that.
Im not knocking you as a magazine, but myself and others i have spoken to feel there is a gap in the market and maybe NZV8 will fill it. yeah its hard with more cars in Auckland, a more active cruise scene etc etc. there is alot of cool stuff here in and around Wellie, it would be nice to see more of them featured in a mag, any mag for that matter.
The hard thing to beat with petrolhead is always going to be the price, the fact that every month a mag comes out for free is great. I go to my local shop and get it every month, will continue to do so.
Im obviously not privvie to alot of the behind the scenes info on the running of say petrolhead so its hard to say what may or may not help, like as an example, are the writers paid for their articles. i know that would be hard for a magazine thats free to public and funded by advertising income,. But if the writers were paid, perhaps there would be more effort or hunting out of cars and doing it. If its something they do as a hobbie for free, well theyre doing a good job and you can't expect to much from volunteers.
I just saw the new mag as perhaps being a cat amongst the piegons and just threw it out there as a conversation starter, to see what others think, see if anyone else cared enough to actually put finger to keyboard over it.
Nice to see that others do care. Its funny one thing the young jap guys have over us hands down, us old V8 dinosaur brigade, is the internet and their forums and the information, idea's views etc that get shared. i find it amusing sometimes talking to V8 guys, that have no idea of what is actually out there in the dark sleezy world of the internet. Its almost like theyre scared of it or maybe don't know about it. theres a huge community of people forming bonds and relationships with people they have never meet to start with.
I Know Grame bates is pretty stoked with his coverage in Igniton mag and the hits that site has taken not only in Nz but globally.
Thats exposure and in someways its something we need to catch up on, just like alot of the import crowd need to catch up on the ways of the world, the damage they have and are doing, the crapping in their own nest, so to speak. I'm pretty vocal about that to them, as it has a flow on effect of hurting everyone in the modded car scene, specially knee jerk reactionary legislation that we all get hurt by.
If youve read myother posts, you obviously know Im pretty vocal about alot of things, and I have given them alot to think about over the couple of years Ive been whoring on their forums for. What amsues me on a daily basis, is that its an import forum, but whos the highest poster there, one of the biggest contributors to it and who actually is a moderator and admin, thus changing the shape, dictating it to some extent.
Not some young import guy but a dirty old dinosaur V8 guy, and these are not derogatory terms, i throw them around willy nilly, as thats what they refer to us as, its all a litle tounge in cheek at time, some seriousness with some jest.
hey im greatful of the work that everyone does, you, me everyone who actually does something for our sport, in whatever way. i like to think that ive helped break down some of the barriers between the 2 very different camps. Even if all we achieve is some appreaction from them, of our cars and us them, we are all in it for the cars, I dont care whats under the hood or what its base is, if its a car and its moddified, Im keen.
Anywa enough of that, everyone keep up the good work and Im sure there's enough pie to go around everyone.