Customer Reviews

Autocourse 2008-2009 (Autocourse: The World's Leading Grand Prix Annual)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a collector of Autocourse over the years, but I was very dissappointed in the reproduction of the photography in this year's edition. The actual images have great composition and style, but the last step in the process that is out of the photographers hands is the pre-press and printing. This is where this book is a big let down. Many of the images look decent, however many of the team personnel headshots make the subject look ill or dead... very pale and washed out.
I am a professional photographer with 25 years of experience. I have over 50 covers for Racer X Illustrated motocross magazine. I have been shooting digital since the beginning of 2004, and before that 35mm through 4x5 film. I know what I am talking about...
If I was Peter J. Fox, the photographer with the majority of images in this book, I would be asking "What happened to my images when this thing got printed?'

I have been an avid collector of Autocourse books for many, many years, as someone previously stated, some of the photo's are very good, but the color is washed out, not just pictures of team personal but the cars too. This is a major disappointment in my eyes, and a distraction whilst trying to enjoy the book. I love Autocourse, I really do, but the quality of the pictures leaves alot to be desired and difficult to recommend.

I don't know whether the other reviewers got a bad print run, but the pictures in my copy are perfect. Really is the most extensive and intriguing F1 yearbook in the world: the analysis is insightful and the coverage is extensive. There is a little bit of a Hamilton fest element, but it's not overwhelming and doesn't distract from the overall quality of the publication.

As expected this issue is a Lewis Hamilton love fest. Incidents involving the driver that everyone but the British Press saw one way, and Autocrouse, being a British publication, sees another way. Hamilton is evidently incapable of doing wrong.

That being said, the book is up to it's usual standards of excellent photography, and generally good reporting, if in this volume, not entirely accurate.

A serious F1 fan should buy it however.