Autosport.com moves up a gear

Over the winter we have been working out what would make the new-look Autosport.com the best place to get your motorsport news, results, features and innovations.

The previous site's reputation was built on its news coverage - and that is still true of the new one. The values we attach to the speed and accuracy of our news coverage have run through the 50 years of the magazine, and we have extended that ethic to the internet.

However, we decided we were just scratching the surface with the original Autosport.com. We had some clear goals. Like many of the motorsport stars we write about, we are always demanding to go quicker. We also aimed to improve the navigation significantly, and now it will be much easier to find the latest reports, results and championship positions from championships around the world.

But there are new aspects too to focus on: our one-to-ones, interviews and historical features.

Over the next few days, weeks and months new developments will be constantly added. An enormous motorsport database, called the Autosport Encyclopedia, contains hundreds of thousands of records, dating back to the first motor race in 1900. The surface of that database is visible now in our Formula 1 'profiles' section. Over the next few days the retro data will become available as we build the ultimate F1 statistics centre.

Our Formula 1 coverage will be just as comprehensive as ever, with more than 50 news stories per Grand Prix. New from this weekend at Silverstone will be the features, analysis, and interactivity with you. Want to know why your favourite driver only completed a handful of laps in qualifying? Send us an e-mail and we'll set our experts on the case.

Every Wednesday you will get the chance to pose your questions to Autosport's Grand Prix Editor Nigel Roebuck. Topical events, or moments down memory lane, Nigel will answer the best questions each week.

The level of our Formula 1 coverage from 1999 will extend to other categories; the World Rally Championship in particular a category that has been the focus of a lot of our winter work.

Keep an eye on our Special Events area on the top left of the home page. Here we'll keep you up to date with the progress of the site, as well as posting daily special features worth a look, and up coming race series.

On the right you will find a comprehensive race calendar -- delve a little deeper and you will find an extraorinary extra that means you never need to miss your favourite event.

Currently, we have made sure that the Formula 1 area is complete. Day by day the data for the other championships will appear.

But this is the start of our on-going work for you to use. And, as this is an interactive site, we value your opinion. As we continually add to the site, you be our test driver. Send us your comments on what you find via the feedback button at the top of the page. We want to hear from you.

Finally, thank you for supporting Autosport.com. We had a great season last year. Here's to an even better one in 2000.