peter_robinson

iTrader: (21)

XRC is by FAR the top magazine for R/C racing here in the US, i dont even bother looking at those other rags any more.

GK

Same question here, why does it take 3+ months to cover a race in these magazines? Glad they don't cover current events, guess I'd be reading about winter olympics right about now. That's why I don't buy any of them, just scan through them in the book store and put them back on the shelf...

imprsme

iTrader: (91)

Well actually the race wasn't 3 months ago. It was Feb 7-12 so March 12, April 12 it is 2 months and 2 weeks ago.

I say that is PRETTY DAMN fast for them to get home go through all the pictures, recap the race, write a report send it to the editor get, it laid out then off to print and out on the shelf.... Plus the Mag. has been in stores for about 3 weeks now.

So really in work time they got you the coverage in less than a month...

The March issuse would have been finished and on the shelf at the time of the 'Birds, with the April issue prob, almost finished and you got it in the May issuse the first week of April....

If you can do it any faster...I bet Derek has a job for you!!!

acsubie

iTrader: (9)

just ordered my subscription...i agree RCCA has way too many ads

tfrahm

iTrader: (2)

I agree -- I used to be able to pick this magazine up at a local bookstore, but they stopped carrying it because I must have been the only customer. Does anyone know if they offer subscriptions to US residents? (Probably way expensive, but it would be worth it, I suspect...)

GK

I suppose this one was covered relatively fast, but Winternats was the following week after Snowbirds, yet it's not covered in the same issue of car action or XRC (unless I missed it), so it will be in the next one (hopefully), some 3 months after the event took place...

Jon Williams

iTrader: (5)

Yeah, reading Car Action is like reading through a Tower Hobbies catalog--one huge ad. Big time snooze.

Like Sarquis said, can't wait to check out that new electric blue Ofna servo horn for my Hitec XtraTorque servo. It's gonna look tight in my Revo.

In defense of Car Action though I think they're moving "downmarket"--positioning themselves even more towards newbies and backyard bashers. Maybe they've seen the success that XRC has had over past couple of years with the racers and figured it was a losing battle. Dunno...

XRC's got my vote. It's only gotten better as each issue has come out.

DerekB

Hey guys, not sure why you guys got the issue so late, but we did have some strange USPS problem that month that seemed to delay subscribers from getting the issue.

Our coverage was out just as fast as it usually was, but remember we ship a magazine once a month and if the race falls right after we shipped it will take about 1.5 months to be out. There are times we get coverage out in a week and other times a month or so, and sometimes more depending if we use a contributor, which delays the whole process.

The internet is a great place for instant "gratification, but I'm not taking a laptop into where I do my magazine reading. Nothing like having something fun and interesting to read while you're sitting on the white chair!

Also while racing is in our blood and we'll always be covering as much racing as possible (we have a staff of 7 total) it's just not possible to cover all races everywhere. And to be honest I hated reading race coverage that simply calls out the seconds...we have the internet for that. We try to provide a "feel" of the race and show some of the other things you don't see. Regional stuff is great, but that only matters to the 30 people who were there. The tough part of a magazine and one that is good is that it has to not get to focused or we'll start to lose. Those other things in the magazine help pay our way to all the races.

But we're proud to have teamed up with the Snowbirds this year and we'll continue to attend and give it the amount of space it deserves!

Ben.C

XRC is the best...! I used to subsribe to RCCA till I took up a copy of XRC....I'm a convert...

Jonny Boy 69

Thanks guys for the kind comments regarding Racer magazine, of which I am the assistant editor. As Derek says regarding timescales, this is something we are always up against regarding the speed that race reports can be got into the mag. We do get the same thing here in the UK as people now have almost instant access to imromation via the net and it is not always fully understood what goes into magazine production.
We do always try to feature as much racing from around the world as possible, even if it is just in our news section just giving a short overview of the race meeting. As such we had news articles on the Snowbirds and Cleveland.
If anyone in the US is interested, Racer can be obtained by subscription over there by ordering from our website at www.rcracer.com

Cheers again!

DerekB

Since I'm in the office here's the stats on the Snowbirds coverage.

Our May issue should have been "out" and in peoples hands around 3/16/2006 which is about 30 days to print. That is because the race was mid-cycle in our magazine production and it was 2-3 weeks after I got back that it went to be printed.

So that's not even close to 3 months. Although the shipping issue could have delayed that to some subscribers.

I know this doesn't matter in the electric forum, but if you subscribe now you'll get a free fuel bottle in the mail (after payment, bill me later options risk not getting one because it's for the first 2,000 subscriptions).

So go do it now!

Jpilone

The only mags at the winternats were RC Driver and RC Car from what I saw (Me being the one from Driver).

it's tough to pick and choose with staff, etc on who can cover the events since they are back to back. For Driver, Erich was already racing at the 'birds and I already raced at the winternats, so it's easy coverage. But for RCCA/XRC/etc it may be tough to send one person out for two weeks, or two people out for one week each. it's tough and costs alot of money.

I went to the birds for one day to shoot some pics... god I hate shooting indoors!