Your Opinion--More stories or fewer stories?

I completely agree, I picked up a Hot Rod mag today and was thoroughly disapointed. Short articles and nearly have of the magazine was advertisements. I want my money back! I pride myself as being an amatuer scientist. I enjoy issues that have enough technical data so you can read and re-read the magazine. I picked up those David Vizard articles and read them at least 5 times! That's getting my monies worth! When you come out with lots of technical information people step-up and want to learn. We expect more out of PHR. More graphs with the data scaled clearly so we can see what works and what can be a good compromise. Thanks.  

Hello John, I did an article a few years ago with you on a 3rd Gen Camaro, where we put suspension on a very nice clean 89( I think it was an 89) RS Camaro, it evenually became more of a PHR project car (you put a TKO in it).  John is one of the few writers that is concerned with how an article is read by the reader, believe there are more than a few I have worked with that are just putting in their time.  John was new to the magazine world when I worked with him but his desired to do good articles showed very much at the time.  

John as you and I know that there is a balance in an article too long you lose the reader, to short and the article has little meaning because of poor information transfer.  My opinion is that I would rather see tech articles that are given the space they need, whether that be 2 pages for something simple to 6 for a serious indepth subject.  It just depends I don't believe a simple formula will work.  

I was just re-reading my November 2006 issue and was going to reply about the e-85 letter, but that got me going on the message board.  To answer this question, there were two reasons I subscribed to your magazine, the in-depth articles and David Vizzard.  I like the length and breadth of the technical information available in your magazine.  Please continue with the in-depth articles.  Thanks.

Mike  

Please, Please, Please keep up the great tech articles!!! I get many Car, Jeep (4wd), and motorcycle magazines and the vast majority, i.e. all but yours, have completely worthless tech articles! I am planning to let the vast majority of these subscriptions laps for that very reason. They just have no real value to me. Those magazines are for people who just want to know what the latest technology is so they can make sure they pay someone to give them the latest and greatest. They really do not help hands on guys refine their skills and learn!

These articles really do set your magazine apart and make the price of the subscription easily worth the money spent.

You mention in jest that you would love for every one to buy the exact same issue twice. In reality I think you want that so you can up the price advertisers pay you because they would reach more people. The great value you already give your advertisers is that instead of flicking through the magazine and then tossing it, your readers save them and use them for reference for years and years. This brings their eyeballs upon their ads over and over, in essence giving them great value for their advertising dollar. Problem is, quantifying this is much more difficult than showing them a 100% increase in subscription rates. I understand the problem but I believe your great, very in depth, tech is what keeps many people looking forward to getting your magazine in the mailbox. I know for me that is the case.

Keep up the great work and keep the tech as is!!!

B  

i like the mag the way it is ! that is why i buy it at the news stand and have it come to my job in the  mail so while i'm seeing all the juck mail and bills i got one thing out  of that mess that will make me smile. twice the reading of the same month. this is from a guy who buys 19 mags every month with 18 cars at or in storage.KEEP THE EVERY DAY HOME BUILT JOE'S CARS COMMING AS LONG AS THE BUILD IS IN GOOD QUALITY DESIGN. MY TWO CENT.    sl3  

lot's more features and less but more in depth tech.  

Johny,
The tech articles are the reason I subscribe to PHR.  A good tech article isn't defined by it's length, but rather the substance - nitty gritty details, along with supportive and unsubjective test data.  Vizzard's content is always great.

Here's a few topic suggestions for ya:
How to set up vacuum advance on a street/strip motor with a ~250-260@.050 cam, without any goofy drivability issues.

How to get a stick shift/leaf spring car to hook - it's not as easy as just bolting on some slapper bars/caltracks/slid-a-links.

Reading spark plugs - a real, in depth analysis of this seeminly black art-I've yet to see this done well.

Thanks for asking what we think!  

Over the many years, Popular Hot Rodding and Circle Track have been the only two magazines that I have followed closely. But Smokey Yunick died and you guys went nuts on Pro-Street. Welcome back to the G-machines.

More tech, more depth. How about an entire month devoted to in-depth suspension analysis of actual cars with accurate to-scale diagrams. I believe that nobody has ever done this kind of article, just the generic quick overviews. What happens to the roll center of a Camero when you lower them? Ron Stielow wrote in one of his articles that he didn't like dropped spindles because of some geometry issues, but he never said what.

Not even the aftermarket manufactures seem to know what steering axis inclination their spindles have. I have spent over a year looking for domestic spindles to replace my Volvo's .05" out of round, welded and redrilled hubs. I still have not found out the angle of the Mustang II, any Camero, or Vette. I found MOPAR B body spindles @8 deg. which will fit, but I will still have to fab-up my own to get dropped spindles(edit; Just discovered that Fat Man Fabrication makes dropped MOPAR spindles).

I know that I am not your average reader, but even we Foreign-job freaks learn something usefull.

Also, be sure to always include the true cost of everything you write about including labor.  

What do you guys think about some of the theme issues we've been running, like Body & Paint, the Engine Masters Challenge, or the Readers' Rides issue?  

Thank you for asking Johnny, I finally joined this forum just to respond to this thread...

I've got to agree with the general sentiment here, particularly the posts from Hohn, RichardEParson & VolvoHeretic.  Please, DON'T be afraid to get too deep into the technical stuff.  As I sit here, I can look just above my monitor at my bookshelves where I see books like 'Tune to Win' (Carroll Smith), 'Race Car Aerodynamics' (Joseph Katz), and 'Maximum Boost' (Corky Bell).

There are more than a few of us who enjoy (& deeply appreciate!) really getting into the nitty-gritty about different topics within this hobby/addiction of ours.  Deep, well-written tech articles of this nature will earn you respect & appreciation from us.  Copy from guys like David Vizard & Kevin McClelland (oops, sorry, that's another mag) is a much more reliable factor as to whether I'll keep the magazine on the way to the checkout, or drop it back on the shelf.

Those who prefer "lighter, fluffier" content can read one of the other two major magazines...

Regarding the "special" issues, I really enjoy the 'Readers Rides' issues, the 'paint & body' issues aren't bad at all, & I really appreciate the 'Engine Masters' issues, even though they don't have much application to the project I'm working on...  (I used to buy 'Engine Masters' magazine before some dolt decided to put Hon-duh info in it...)

Again, thanks for asking Johnny.  I've been reading your stuff since you were on the East Coast at GMHTP.