I'm a huge fan of the Internet. Huge. Some say I'm addicted. I can't disagree. Surfing has become a daily deal. Every day I learn new tricks, see amazing things and even check out an automotive site or two.
Which brings me to our Web site www.sportcompactcarweb.com. If you haven't checked it out, you should. If you checked it out months ago, thought it was absolute crap and never went back, you should give it another chance.
Fact is our Web site was the pits until just recently. For years, it was a shameless reprint of the magazine, nothing more than a monthly regurgitation. In other words, absolute crap.
For the past six or seven months, however, we've been working on it. We've given it a fresh new look and we've added a ton of new content. Content you won't see in the printed magazine.
If you've been reading the mag consistently, you've also noticed many of the photos we've been running are now available for download. Free. Hey, if we do anything right around here, it's the photography. We've also added more reader's rides to the Web, just click on "showroom," and we've added streaming videos of recent import drag racing and rallying events.
More tech is also just a click away-that's tech you won't see in these pages. A good example of this is the humongous 20-page Wheel Guide in this issue. There's even more wheel goodness on the Web site, including contact information for each wheel's manufacturer and sound advice on everything wheels, from wheel care to offset, fitment and construction. It's all there, even backspacing.
You remember Larry Saavedra don't you? Until recently, he had my job. Well, now Larry is the editorial director for online and multimedia content for Primedia's International Performance Group. This means the same guy who made Sport Compact Car magazine so great is now making www.sportcompactcarweb.com great. Larry is busy thinking of ways to expand our traditional print coverage of project vehicles, feature cars, car shows and motorsports, so the enthusiast armed with a PC can find an enhanced Sport Compact Car experience at the click of a mouse.
Sure, I wish our server was bigger and faster, and I wish we could pack our site with even more fat mpeg's (there are some) and flashy animated graphics, but the net is still in its adolescence and our ability to fully exploit the medium is proceeding at a modest pace. We will get there, however. I promise.
I suggest you check it out. Logon as they say. You won't regret it. If you do, blame me.