From 10 to 1 - the dwindling interest in Formula 1
12/26/2014
From around ten German-language seasonal flashbacks per year for the bookshelf, just one remains today. The"Auto-Jahr" has lasted the longest of all. From 1953 up to and including 2012, a total of 59 issues in one go - available in various languages - show the complete automotive history of the post-war period. Whether sport, studies, the most important new releases or even exciting retrospectives, with the collection of these books you were informed about everything and at the same time had a great reference work for many dates and results. This book series became a collector's item par excellence and some of the first editions already fetched prices of over a thousand euros.
However, there have been many more annual books about the motorsport scene in recent years. Some have been on the market longer, others less so."Grand Prix", launched by Ulrich Schwab and continued by Achim Schlang, was a yearbook that only looked back on the F1 season, but enjoyed a loyal readership for many years. The project began in 1966 and ended in 2008. These books cover a total of 42 years of Formula 1 with annual reports.
There are also books that were available for far less time, but were no less good. For example, the few editions of Eddie Guba's"Race-Report", or"Autodrom". The book"Grand-Prix Story" by long-time ORF commentator Heinz Prüller has been available since 1971 and is less image-heavy but contains easy-to-read reports on the GP scene. This book has also survived and is still available today under his name.
When Michael Schumacher suddenly became an F1 high-flyer, everyone in the German-speaking book trade wanted to take a leaf out of his book. Countless annuals were stacked up in bookshops at Christmas time. However, these titles ("Cockpit","Faszination Formel 1" or"Formel 1 Jahrbuch") disappeared into oblivion after a short time, just as they had appeared.
Today, there is only one lavishly illustrated German-language yearbook left. The book from Auto Motor und Sport(Formula 1 Yearbook 2014), written by Michael Schmidt with photos by my friend Wolfgang Wilhelm and myself, is celebrating its 10th edition. Unfortunately, it came onto the market very late, actually much too late. Unfortunately, the high print runs during Michael Schumacher's heyday were missed.
The defunct yearbooks did not only deal with F1. The one-make world championship, Formula 2, the European Touring Car Championship, the World Rally Championship and some series from the USA, such as the CanAm series or the Indy 500, were taken just as seriously as the crown of motorsport.
Today's latest edition is limited to F1. Not a single word is said about the WEC, WRC or GP2, not even the final results are taken into account.
This is a sad development, but the positive counter-trend to it is the many individual book titles that are being published today. Thanks to digital printing technology, even small and very small editions are possible and this is reflected in countless titles on forgotten topics from the motorsport scene, mostly researched and edited by real enthusiasts.
