Response

Repeat Articles!

I would just like to add my support to Wayne Graham's comments in Response (14 Jan 07) regarding repeat articles. It is now Wednesday 17th, and apart from Driving Emotion and Response (weekly columns) the last new article was 9 Jan - more than 8 days ago!

Perhaps I am one of the few with a memory who has also read all the back issues, but how about some NEW ONES! (I don't mind a smattering of repeat articles). We have already had 15 days without articles over the Christmas break - fair enough for you guys to have a break - but surely THAT is a great time to automatically schedule repeat articles? By my count, from 18 Dec to 17 Jan there have been a total of 5 'new' articles in a month - Spring Swap, Gear Knob, Direct Petrol Injection and Negative Boost Revisited  Parts 1 & 2 (I'd argue that revisiting is not always new material) - and in the past there would have been up to 25!

That's quite a drop in material.

Oh and I am sure I am like many readers who open one of the repeat articles, (adding falsely to the ‘popularity’ count on the article) and then realise it is a repeat. So perhaps the popularity of the older articles is not as high as the numbers suggest. Can we see some more new articles please, and less of the repeats!

Noel Puzey
Australia

We always have a break in editorial content over Christmas.

The reader ratings that we referred to previously, where we pointed out that repeat articles are scoring very well, are based on reader votes, not pages viewed. As examples - Holden Commodore VL SS Group A "Walkinshaw" – Rating 3.77; Godzilla Tamed – Rating 4.4; Performance Testing – Rating 3.76. That compares with How Heavy's Your Knob (which we actually thought was a very good article, since we’ve never seen that modification described anywhere else!) at Rating 3.69. (All ratings correct at the time of writing.)

In terms of pages viewed, we statistically differentiate those readers coming to AutoSpeed from external sources to those coming from within the AutoSpeed site. These stats show that the repeat articles are very popular with external readers – they help bring new readers to AutoSpeed. Recent articles that have rated very well for external page views include Escorting Power , NSX In Excess , and Grading the GT-R – all repeats.

As noted previously, existing subs were extended to take into account the changed provision of new content. Since the stats on the number of page views, number of unique viewers and reader ratings are all positive, we’re unlikely to change the new format.

Porsche Glitch

I am the happy (almost) owner of a 1985 928 Porsche. It runs the Mercedes Benz four-speed auto trans of that era which (as standard) annoyingly takes off from rest in second gear. The only way to make it take off in 1st is to mash your right foot to the firewall to close the kick-down switch. I have a manual push button switch fitted but this has become tedious. What I need is some electronic device/kit that would close the kick-down switch when the car comes to a rest and then re-opens the switch just after the car has moved off. I guess the close and open speeds would have to be adjustable as well as the hysteresis.

Given your magazine’s bent for electronic modification – any suggestions? There are a lot of 928 owners out there (seewww.landsharkoz.com) that would love a simple or cheap mod.

Robbie Anderson
Australia

If triggered from the speedo input, the Frequency Switch kit (starts at Frequency Switch, Part 1) could be used.

Better Economy...

Re Driving Emotion . 3.5 l/100km's??!  Ppphhfff - that's nothing! - my Postie Bike averages 2.7 l00/km with motorway AND city riding.   (Just don't tell anyone about the hassle of putting on and removing all the safety gear, the lack of passive safety, the cold winters, the hot summers.....)

Matt King
Australia