Automotive Engineering International

Publication title: Automotive Engineering International
Extent and nature of circulation

Average number the preceding 12 months:

Paid subscriptions : 93,238
Sales though vendors and carriers :
Total paid circulation: 93,238
Outside country:
Free distribution:

Copies not distributed: 2,541

Total: 95,779

DSport Magazine and IDRC - True Hollywood Story

DSport Magazine - formally Drag Sport

"Before you read any further, please understand that this story isn't for everyone. Unlike every other DSport editorial, you are not going to learn how to make your car faster or make you car perform better. Instead, you are going to get a look behind the scenes at the politics and mechanics behind the import performance scene. If you're not interested skip ahead. We've added pages just to make sure you weren't cheated. If you would like to understand the industry from an insider's viewpoint, follow along. The following is about to be the tale of the evolution of both import performance magazines and organized import drag racing."

"While 2003 would serve as a year of success for DRAG Sport, the Big Three (Sport Compact Car, Import Tuner and Super Street) would see significant drops in subscriptions and single-copy sales. According to a FasFax analysis, the three titles would lose between 10 to 15-percent of their subscriber base while single-copy sales would slide between 10 and 17 percent. Ironically, advertising rates for the PRIMEDIA titles would continue to rise. PRIMEDIA advertisers would be paying considerably more to get considerably less."

So now its a couple of years later , I wonder where Dsport sits on this. I think Dsport is still doing well. Well enough for a small book vs the huge conglomerate that was Primedia, but is now Source Interlink.

Racecar Engineeering December 2007

Racecar Engineering is the automotive magazine you probably have never heard of. They carry them in some Barnes and Nobels, but they are a little hard to find. Its a UK based technical magazine about the racing industry. Its expensive - about $9.99 an issue, but it has some really great information. More than most people would ever want or need, but if you are really into competition, this is a magazine for you. Lots of up close pictures and analysis of race car competition.

The December 2007 issue covers some of the technical information that was passed from Ferrari to McLaren in the spy scandal from last year. One part that was interesting was the use of specialized gases in the tires of the Ferraris. Most people use air in their tires , some race cars , even the new GT-R, use nitrogen in their tires. What Ferrari found out though , was by using a combination hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) - based mixture specially made for use in racing tires. This mix greatly extends the performance of the tires over a number of laps. For instance in the Ferrari testing after 23 laps , tires filled with air had about 40% of the performance of a new tire , where the HFC mixture had 80% of the performance of a new tire.

The mixture of gases also allowed for a much longer tire life before bursting. Where nitrogen would last for 64 minutes before bursting , the gas mixtures allowed the same tires to last from 94 minutes to 103 minutes.

Very interesting . Has very little to do with street cars, but in other series , we might start to see them using this new mixture, or a combination of mixtures in tires to increase performance. Having run in a series that used a spec tire , over a 50 minute race , if given the ability to get this gas mixture to put in the tires , I think most of the racers would use it.

Racecar Engineering

Source Interlink magazine editor mixup

I though a few people left/moved around in the last few months in the real world. There were a few more than I thought. I think its going to take about 3 months to sort out who is where. It might not mean much to most people reading the magazines, but to those of us that know the editors, its a little strange.

John Naderi left as editor of Super Street . Carter Jung left as feature editor Super Street for feature editor at Import Tuner . Ricky Chu left feature editor Super Street for editor of Project car. Robert Choo left as editor of Turbo Magazine , and Aaron Bonk moved up to editor. Joey Leh moved from feature editor at Import Tuner, to editor at Sport Compact Car. Ed Loh moved from editor of Sport Compact Car to Motor Trend magazine. Carter then went from feature editor to editor of Import Tuner, when Jason Mulroney moved up to Group Editorial Director

John Naderi and Ricky Chu are with Riceboy TV. Interesting name.

Lots of mix ups going on. The sale from Primedia to Source Interlink. Primedia acquiring Modified Magazine. It seems like every time I go to an event, an editor has left, or is taking up a new position. I wonder when its going to settle down ? I wonder if they are going to consolidate any of the books ? Kind of like a NOPI drag race sanctioned by the NHRA. Turbo magazine section in a Modified Magazine ? Sport Compact section of Super Street ?

Road and Track Magazine - Statement of Circulation

Publication title: Road and Track
Extent and nature of circulation

Average number the preceding 12 months:

Paid subscriptions : 576,643
Sales though vendors and carriers : 121,114
Total paid circulation: 697,757
Outside country: 2792
Free distribution: 1475

Copies not distributed: 211,842

Total: 913,866

Modified Magazine

Modified Magazine. Canadian eh. Bought out by Primedia right before they were sold again. They used to be big and different, and now they are just pared down to just a couple of guys.

Access Unlimited Magazine

Access Unlimited Magazine. It was around for a little while, but I don't think they could get enough advertisers to support the book vs the Primedia empire. Put out by the guys from Legend Entertainment.

RB Motorings Evo on the cover of this issue.

Performance Auto and Sound Magazine

From Canadia eh. One of my favorite Canadians is editorial director now. Ex- Modified Magazine guy. One of the few non - Primedia / Source Interlink books.

Car and Driver magazine - December 2007 - Statement of Circulation

Publication title: Car and Driver
Extent and nature of circulation

Average number the preceding 12 months:

Paid subscriptions : 1,165,285
Sales though vendors and carriers : 150,201
Total paid circulation: 1,315,486
Outside country: 2070
Free distribution: 3472

Copies not distributed: 229,725

Total: 1,548,683

Hot Rod Magazine - December 2007-Statement of Circulation

Publication title: Hot Rod
Extent and nature of circulation

Average number the preceding 12 months:

Paid subscriptions : 609,289
Sales though vendors and carriers : 86,053
Total paid circulation: 695,342

Outside country: 945
Free distribution: 896
Total distribution: 697,183
Copies not distributed: 186,464

Total: 883,647

A lot less of these printed than the smaller import/sport compact books.

Hot Rod Magazine

Turbo Magazine - January 2008 - Statement of Circulation

Publication title: Turbo and High Tech Performance
Extent and nature of circulation

Average number the preceding 12 months:

Paid subscriptions : 6,846
Sales though vendors and carriers : 13,128
Total paid circulation: 19,974

Outside country: 392
Free distribution: 447
Total distribution: 20,420

Copies not distributed: 39,239

Total: 59,660


They print twice as many as they actually sell/ distribute. I guess this is a trend for Primedia / Source Interlink

Super Street Magazine December 2007 - Statement of Circulation

Publication title: Super Street
Extent and nature of circulation

Average number the preceding 12 months:

Paid subscriptions : 44,680
Sales though vendors and carriers : 69,753
Total paid circulation: 114,433

Outside country: 755
Free distribution: 169
Total distribution: 115,537

Copies not distributed: 168,816

Total: 284,174


They print twice as many as they actually sell/ distribute.

Car Magazines

The chicken or the egg, that is the question. Well not really. The car appeared well before the car magazine, but can cars survive today without the car magazine.

What about online magazines ?

What about online only coverage ?

This blog is mostly centered around current day magazines, and the sport compact/ import car magazine world.