Rallycourse Annual 2008/09

[AndyRAC]

Having purchased this annual regularly and always enjoyed reading it, and the stance it takes to Rallying - not just WRC, but ERC, BRC and National series; I have recently received it, and sadly, find it's now the 'Official Annual of the WRC'. All, the other series have been dumped. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. Why has this decision been made - Autocourse/Motocourse don't appear to have taken this action - so why has Rallycourse? What used to be hard hitting - is surely destined to become the mouthpiece of the WRC. Recent issues have had Jerry Williams and his yearly rant at the incompetance of all those running the WRC, sadly, he isn't in this years, which is not a surprise. Bad move methinks.....it seems they will do anything to stop criticism of the sport.

[Leon]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

I will cancel it from my Amazon order. Martin Holmes Pirelli still no 1 for me

[AndyRAC]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

I will cancel it from my Amazon order. Martin Holmes Pirelli still no 1 for me

Well I ordered it before Christmas as usual - it was only looking on crash.net recently that I saw it was 'official'. It's not bad, but one wonders about the editorial direction - David Evans is normally not a bad writer. Would just prefer it not to be 'official'.

[WRCfan]

That is a shame! My father has every edition of Rallycourse and the previous ones like 'Rallying 79' with 3 whole pages of colour photos and the rest printed on what seem to be cardboard haha.

However to find Rallycourse has changed it's name is a shame. It has been going for so long that to suddenly have a name change in the bookshelf sucks for sure!

[AndyRAC]

No, it's still called Rallycourse - but it's now the official Annual of the WRC. It has the WRC branding on it, so now no other Championships are in it.

[WRCfan]

Ahhhh I see!

That's a bit disappointing too! Especially with 200+ pages of Citroen and Ford, kind of dull.....

[RS]

Like Russia, where the state controls/owns the media, lol.

[BDunnell]

Well I ordered it before Christmas as usual - it was only looking on crash.net recently that I saw it was 'official'. It's not bad, but one wonders about the editorial direction - David Evans is normally not a bad writer. Would just prefer it not to be 'official'.

The trouble is that with advertising in short supply nowadays, publishers will take whatever opportunities they can, and I suspect accepting 'official' status such as this is a good example.

[AndyRAC]

The trouble is that with advertising in short supply nowadays, publishers will take whatever opportunities they can, and I suspect accepting 'official' status such as this is a good example.

The thing is that both Autocourse & Motocourse are published by the same people yet are still ' The World's Leading F1/MotoGP Annual'. Really disappointed, have been comparing it to last years. I'm sure a lot of hard work has gone into it, but, from my point of view there is too much backslapping going on - i;e, praising Pirelli on a job well done.
I'll just have to wait for the Martin Holmes Annual to come out.

[wrc_flipper]

The thing is that both Autocourse & Motocourse are published by the same people yet are still ' The World's Leading F1/MotoGP Annual'. Really disappointed, have been comparing it to last years. I'm sure a lot of hard work has gone into it, but, from my point of view there is too much backslapping going on - i;e, praising Pirelli on a job well done.
I'll just have to wait for the Martin Holmes Annual to come out.

It's out now (published late December)
Very good as usual with lots of the wrc, BRC and FIA regional championships - even some pages on the irc!

[BDunnell]

The thing is that both Autocourse & Motocourse are published by the same people yet are still ' The World's Leading F1/MotoGP Annual'. Really disappointed, have been comparing it to last years. I'm sure a lot of hard work has gone into it, but, from my point of view there is too much backslapping going on - i;e, praising Pirelli on a job well done.
I'll just have to wait for the Martin Holmes Annual to come out.

Agree, it is a shame. Hopefully there will continue to remain other sources of unbiased, critical information for historians to look back on.

[sal]

Think Rallycourse collectors should be glad that Mr Crash Media decided to publish the book at all as I understand it sells very poorly compared to it's stable mates. Guess it was Rallycourse's turn to be the official WRC book after the DPPI Rally yearbook and that woeful standalone soft back version a couple of years ago that you can get for a £1 online these days...

Have a full set here so no reason not to buy a copy of this years to go along with RallyYear book and Mr Holmes/Selden's offering

[Shrike]

That is bad news but thanks for bearing. I like the Pirelli books better anyway.

[Oppositelock]

It's sad, but that's how publishing works nowadays. I can only judge it by knowing the German market, but I don't think the UK is too much different.

You can't make a profit out of a book on such a special subject as rallying by selling it to the public only. These numbers are declining every year not only thanks to the internet. You need some additional sponsoring, i.e. selling a couple of hundreds copies to the teams or sponsors involved in the sport. If there's no business customer for example out of the national championship, than this chapter will be axed, simple as that.

When you get the chance to become the "official" book of WRC you can be sure to sell a sufficient number of copies to the manufacturers, big sponsors and so on. So why care about a couple of dozens readers interested in the European Championship?

[RAS007]

Rallycourse used to be a truly awesome book. David Williams' understanding of the sport, and the rythms of an event made his analysis a joy to read. Unfortunately, since his death, the quality of Rallycourse has been declining. The 2004-2005 Rallycourse is a joke. I think the last one Williams was involved in was 2005-2006. Rallycourse becoming the "official" WRC annual is a tragedy, but does fit into the existing narrative.

[sal]

As a collector of rallying books I have all the previous Rallycourses and as has been said here was always a must read due to incomporable writing/stewardship of DKW and Reinhard Kleins images. Then when the ...Course titles were sold off to Crash Media and there was a suggestion that Rallycourse would be no more DKW went off and created World Rally News that but for his untimely demise would have carried on where he left off. I have it on good authority that the Rallycourse title has always sold much less than the F1 and Moto GP versions and has been on it's death bed before and the photographic contributers have changed so guess the ISC "shilling" and becoming the official WRC book means it may survive. I havent purchased my copy yet as I buy a lot of books and am always looking for a deal but am dissapointed to learn that other championships arent covered and think that is very much a retrograde step.

[Leon]

I am also a collector of rallying books. I order Rallycourse since october 2008 from amazon along with other books. I received all the other books except Ralycourse. Amazon keeps saying that they have problems sourcing this book. Is there a probem with amazon or with the specific book?