Maybe LS1tech should come out with a magazine. With all the info in here im pretty sure it will make it. It can feature user cars, tips, trick, free mods, and so on. We already have enough info on this site to make it comparable to a mustang mag. If not that, a magazine thats dedicated to the modular and LSX and LTX engines would be nice. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="gr_images/icons/cool.gif" />

 

First let me apologize to all our LS1 readers who only buy our magazine to look at the pictures on the cover. We did run three consecutive issues with LT1 cars up front and I know that must have been difficult for you. Although the actual size of the magazine doesn't really change, our LS1 coverage has been lighter than normal lately, but that should change in the next few issues. With the exception of Raymer's Buick, every other car we shot on our recent Texas trip was an LS1.

Even with the content in recent issues, there are still people on the Corvette forums who insist there is a vast conspiracy against anything pre-LS1 in our magazine and as Brick mentioned, the Turbo Buick and SyTy folks may never get a fraction of the coverage LT1/LS1 folks see.

As for Hunkins or the magazine not mentioning LS1tech.com enough, c'mon! The guy has three F-bodies and all of them are pre-LS1.com. He joined CZ28.com and mentions it because the site is geared towards the vehicles he owns and drives. If he buys an LS1, I'm sure he'll spend more time here and mention it more in stories. Although he likes Chris and Jason, he also thinks very highly of PSJ (I'm sure he likes Tony too, he just mentions John more because I know him through the MFBA) and it's not like he's playing favorites or plugging LS1.com out of spite for this site. I remember a specific thread on this board where I said I would mention LS1tech.com in every Street Heat story submitted by members of this board and PSJ even offered free decals for anyone who took me up on the offer. I don't know if those guys have gotten their decals, but I do my best to mention this and other sites in Street Heat when the owners mention them in their letters. I just don't get many letters from LS1tech.com folks.

As for subscribers who have not been receiving their issues, I apologize and ask that you please call subscriber services at 1-800-477-7074. When I've had trouble with my subscription, they've always been very prompt in handling the situation.

 

Thanks for the post, Jim.

Folks get a little short-sighted sometimes. There are a lot of EFI cars out there, EFI being the basis for "high tech". It all works out with equal coverage for all areas.

I was always impressed with Johnny the few times we crossed paths. And I hope that Rick has similar enthusiasm. I'm sure he does, or he wouldn't have been selected.

On a side note, been to Elkhart Lake lately?

You need to bring your beast to Texas and run a weekend with us at Motorsport Ranch. 8 or 10 of us F-Body's hit that track regularly in HPDE events. The import guys (both Japanese and European) are beginning to respect the F-Body's ability to not only accelerate, but stop and turn as well.

 

HUH???

I like the mag Jim but you do have to admit that the mag is not for Johnny himself but for the readers. Did you guys ever do a breakdown of your readers? What do most of them drive? Maybe...just a suggestion...you should do one of each in every other issue. I mean fast 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gen GM iron isnt hard to come by and just about every GN I see is nice. Same for the SyTy's.

I'm not tryin to start anything at all. I dont know who reads your mag. I was just curious if you guys are poking the correct audience. It seems like there was a lot of personal influence in the pages. I really liked your column before it got nixed cause it explored the net for me when I wasnt available to.



I will keep reading as long as it says GM at the top of the cover.



Stu

 

Jim,,,thanks for chimeing in. It's nice to see that the folks who have a hand in the Mag. really do care about what readers think.

As far as Hunkins goes, I meet him last year and we talked cars a bit. I think your explanation is spot on. People run mags, people will write about what they know best/ like best. That's why you don't normally see Hondas in Hotrod Magazine. Hunkins is a good writer and he really does love the cars he writes about. That's good enough me. I'm fine with how the mag is being run but it does seem the mag has been getting kinda "thin" lately. As I said before-I just hope ya'll stay around{actually I hope ya'll grow like crazy}, it's all we have pretty much.

Just make sure that you tell the truth when you do tests on widgets. I understand the guy who was talking about the SLP Mass Air test. I have one and I wasted my money on it. Find a few old copies of Cars Illustrated, if they tried some new widget and it was a rook-they screamed bloody murder. I liked that. GMHT looked as if they were coming up with excuses for SLP, didn't sit well with me{and apparently, some other folks also}. BTW, I don't hate SLP. I just think they need to be a bit more truthfull on what the average gains on their widgets will produce.

........Have a good day and thanks again for chimeing in!

 

Hi Mitch! When are you going to join us up at RA? I'll be down in your neck of the woods early next month.

Stu, the focus of our magazine is limited to EFI GM cars and trucks, so most second gen cars would be outside or our scope. I agree with you that there are a variety of other nice/fast cars and trucks, but as a magazine we need to find vehicles that interest our readers and stand out from the rest, which can get very difficult after a while with certain cars. Our current format only allows space for two feature cars per issue which also limits us in terms of the variety of cars we can feature in each issue.

The current issue has an LS1 feature, a Turbo Buick feature, an SS concept story, TPI stealth ram tech and testing, LS1 valvetrain buyer's guide, TPI bolt-on tech, LS6 tech and third gen brake tech, which seems like a pretty good mix to me, although not every issue is that way.

Trying to figure out what our readers like/drive is not an exact science and with only one full-time staff member, the magazine doesn't have the resources to survey our readers to find out what they drive. We do look very closely at the newsstand numbers, which give us a very good idea of what sells and what doesn't. We could have all the SyTy owners in the world screaming bloody murder in letters to the editor or all the Turbo Buick guys stuffing an online poll, but if the LT1 and LS1 issues are the big sellers, we'll probably keep our focus in that general direction, while trying to include enough content on everyone else to keep them happy.

Judd, Johnny's car purchases are primarily based on two factors:

-Which cars do well in the magazine
-Which cars can he afford

I know Johnny would have loved to buy an LS1, but he just couldn't swing it financially, so he ended up buying the Grape instead. While there are other cars he'd probably like to own, he doesn't have the luxury of being able to buy anything that he can't use for stories in a magazine.

I will also forward your concerns regarding the SLP article to Rick Jensen, who is now the man running the show. Thanks for reading GMHTP!

 

Thanks for the replies Jim. Feel free to use our site if you wish to do any polls or marketing research with our members. They can probably give you a very good idea on what they wish to see in the magazine.

So, is Johnny going to put an old school Poncho 455 in the Thunderchicken so it can be on every other page of PHR now? hehehe

Congrats to Johnny on the promotion, and congrats to Rick on a speedy move up the ranks!

Tony

 

I'd love to do Road America ... GMHTP needs to sponsor something like that ...

E-mail me at mitchntx@charter.net and let me know what your schedule is.

There is a whole bunch of us F-Bods doing the big course at Texas World Speedway May 31/June 1 in an HPDE. Would love for you to join us if you can work it in ....

 

Jim, either I did not convey what I was thinking well {most likely the reason, that's why I'm not a writer} or you miss-read my post.

I was defending Johnny against one of the other posts and agreeing with your explanation. As I said, I understand why he writes about the cars he does-that's what he drives. I am happy with the range of coverage the mag has. Just would like to see more quantity just as you and everyone else who either reads or works for GMHT. I also understand that neither you or Johnny can do anything about quantity, that's a upper management decision based on how well the mag sells.

My only issue was with the SLP tech article {and a few others}. You answered my only issue.

Once again, thanks for the interest you are expressing in your readers questions. Hurry up and get that mag growing! Hope it gets to be alot larger and monthly BTW!