Historic Racing Driver magazine is no more in NZ !

Hi all --its been a while.

Historic Racing Driver Magazine produced in NZ is no more!! the last issue for NZ was #6

It was high quality job but too expensive to produce vs revenue streams made

Only 6 issues of this fabulous magazine were produced here
Jack Quin has sold the magazine and magazine will soon be produced from the UK in Chicester near Goodwood with a target audience aimed at Elite Car Clubs!

see my profile of this most excellent magazine http://www.carmagreviews.co.nz/NonCM...ll.aspx?Mag=75

Some of my latest reviews like NZ Classic Driver
NZ Classic Driver Oct-November 2011 (its taken a while) Special Chev 100 year Issue; Facel Vega HK500 FHC 1961 RHD ex GB here!!
http://www.carmagreviews.co.nz/NonCM...MagReview=1024

I be tacking NZ Classic Car over the next 2 days

Yes, shame for those of us who wrote for the mag, unrecompensed, and also those who paid subscriptions and got nothing either!

Don't wish to be a Negative Nancy, but this has happened a few times recently with specialist classic car and bike mags in the States. It's difficult to get them produced for a competitive price, and I'm sure these days more and more people jump on the net for relevant info, then they're gone. When a mag like Motor Sport is made available in back issues on disc, there's a clue. For those contributors and subscribers left empty-handed, I feel sympathy.... but it's not a huge surprise.

Sorry to hear about those who worked for the magazine not been paid :(
I was working on Jack to be my main sponsor of my website and he was seriously considering it ....so in hindsight it was blessing in disguise ...

Jack reckoned my website was major factor that boosted sales of his magazine - educated people around that it was there .many other magazines have said the same particularly the independents no one else world wide produces sunmmaries and reviews of car magazine like myself - I so wish Parkside Media and others would wake up ..I am doing them a favour- I see Don Packwood is now the 'offical painter for NZ Classic Car, he was this for Historic Racing Driver...

History repeats itself
NZ Classic Wheels went to 20 issues ( I got most of these except #1 and #20) it is strange National Library did not get any copies under the copyright deposit scheme I looked - Similar problem with writers not been paid - provided some real competition to NZ Classic Car which it still needs.. - not helped according to what i heard years ago whethers its true or not - that the said Editor of NZ Classic Wheels had been charged and sent to prison for activity from what i heard to do with a video camera and his boots - I knew quite a lot people who invested in this and lost a lot of money - That Editor has gone back to the UK once he got out and runs minor classic car events...i am sure i seen his name on a minor event in Classic & Sportscar magazine who did a brief report

Thats news to me "When a mag like Motor Sport is made available in back issues on disc" - How Far back does it go - I indexed Most of them from Mid 1956 to 2001 on my database -is the Cd still available and how much was it?
we are talking The superior British version with the green covers are we not?

Cheers Julian

Hi Julian,
The MotorSport magazine digital archives go from 1924 to 1999 and are available here : https://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/shop/wizard/select

The magazine was not always green - remember that attempt to reposition it a few years back where they had a run of red covers.

Actually I find the magazine thing very sad. I have been a freelance contributor to various magazines in a variety of fields since the early 1980s.
I do not think there are many who set out to be devious, I suspect that the low population in NZ, in particular, makes publishing barely viable at best. My dear old Mum, who wrote historical novels till the day of her death, struggled to get them published, even after winning Mansfield awards et al.
My gut feeling is that the best intentioned enthusiasts are really in the wrong part of the world to get their enthusiasms on the market for any significant time. The list of failed publications is probably extensive. I have spent quite a bit on subscriptions for mags which have failed. Historic Driver, Tarmac are just a couple which spring to mind. I wonder what happens to that pool of money? In remoter areas where I live there are few chances to peruse the mags at the bookshops, they only carry the mainline mags, no wonder I pursue the mags which fail. On a "per issue" basis I spend way too much!

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Originally Posted by Oldfart

I wonder what happens to that pool of money?

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In most cases it would have gone towards paying printers' bills etc

There were two excellent UK magazines that appeared in the '90s, Historic Race & Rally, and Historic Racing. Both were full of fascinating articles and really good quality historic racing coverage, but sadly both came and went very quickly. I think I managed to collect most issues of each and still refer to them pretty regularly for info. So its not just the NZ magazines which struggle. Magazines, unlike books, make most of their revenue from advertising, and I guess its a case of finding enough advertisers early on before the money runs out. Its an expensive industry to get in to.

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Originally Posted by David McKinney

In most cases it would have gone towards paying printers' bills etc

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Not, in some cases, attending overseas race meetings? (Tongue in cheek)