Editor's letter: This month's unique 'F1 at 70' Collector's Edition

F1 at 70

How to get hold of the latest issue of Motor Sport without leaving your house — and the merits of slime-storming

f1 70 cover and spread
Joe Dunn

Editors cartoonDear Reader,

It is a sign of these uncertain and unprecedented times that for the first time in its 96-year history, this month’s issue of Motor Sport was sent to the printers by an editorial team working entirely remotely.

I am tremendously proud of the whole team for their work in difficult circumstances. It was not the first time that Motor Sport has published in the face of adversity and it won’t be the last. During the considerably greater inconvenience of the Second World War, Motor Sport was one of the few magazines that published for the duration. Legend has it that we were even given our own supply of rationed paper by the government because the magazine was seen as being good for the nation’s morale.

Similarly, I would like to reassure readers today that Motor Sport will continue to publish every month in print and digital format throughout the current health crisis.

The magazine will continue to be packed full of great writers, perceptive analysis and opinion, and brilliant photography that illuminates and celebrates the great moments of our sport. Sadly, there will be few, if any, race reports but we will make up for that with even more wonderful historic features.

Shop now

Clearly there are some new practical barriers to buying printed copies of Motor Sport from the shops (although we will remain on sale at newsagents and supermarkets). So we have come up with several offers that hopefully will make it easier to get your magazine. These include a free digital upgrade for subscribers, which gives you all of the same magazine content, enhanced for your computer, tablet or phone, and a new discounted offer of £5 per month for a full subscription which includes complete access to our amazing online archive. For those who buy the magazine from newsstands we have enabled single issue sales of our digital magazine. Full details of all of this can be found on our website.

I would also encourage readers to visit our online shop. It is no secret that a magazine like ours depends on advertising to keep going. This revenue will greatly reduce over the coming months and buying from our online shop, which sells motor racing related gifts and memorabilia, is an easy and effective way for readers to support us.

Finally, on behalf of everyone at Motor Sport, I’d like to thank you, our readers, for your continued loyalty. Few magazines command the same passion and sense of pride from those who work for it and read it. Long may that continue.

From the archive

I would like to wish all of our readers continued good health and safety and will leave the last word to the most eminent of our former editors, Bill Boddy, who wrote the following in his editorial of October 1939:

“However much as we shall mourn the “good old times” when there were long, fast runs and motoring fixtures to attend every week-end, in company with fellow sportsmen and the inevitable and indispensable sportsgirls, we shall all face the future bravely. If it is an exaggeration to suggest that slime-storming* is already a driving attribute sought after by recruiting army officers, unquestionably the qualities which stamp a man a motor racing enthusiast, are going to be of real value in the stern times which lie ahead.”

*If you don’t know what slime-storming is, it’s a sign you need to visit our archive more!

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