''Performance Car'', commonly abbreviated to ''PC'', was an

automobile magazine An automobile magazine is a magazine with news and reports on cars and the Automotive industry, automobile industry. Automobile magazines may feature new car tests and comparisons, which describe advantages and disadvantages of similar models ...

from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

published by

EMAP Ascential (formerly EMAP) was a British-headquartered global company, specialising in events, intelligence and advisory services for the marketing and financial technology industries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was ac ...

between October 1983 and July 1998. As suggested by the title, the magazine focussed on the high performance sector of the car market, from

hot hatch A hot hatch (shortened from hot hatchback) is a high-performance variant of a hatchback car. The term originated in the mid-1980s; however, sportier factory versions of hatchbacks have been produced since the 1970s. A front-engine, front-wheel-dr ...

es through to

supercars A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...

. A magazine of the same name was launched in 2008.

Original magazine

AGB Business Publications Limited launched ''Performance Car'' in October 1983. It replaced ''Hot Car'' magazine, a magazine that focussed on the tuned & modified car scene. The change of name came about due to a slight shift of focus to manufacturer-built performance cars. Early issues were titled ''Performance Car (incorporating Hot Car)''. The editor at launch was Ian Wearing. In 1986,

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English television presenter, journalist, farmer, and author who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for hosting the television programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), T ...

became a freelance columnist for the magazine. He would later go on to present the BBC motoring TV series ''Top Gear'', but continued to write for ''Performance Car'' until 1994, when the BBC issued him an ultimatum following the launch of ''

Top Gear magazine ''Top Gear'' is a British automobile magazine, owned by BBC Worldwide, and published under contract by Immediate Media Company. It is named after the BBC's '' Top Gear'' television show. It was first published in October 1993 and is published ...

''. In the mid-1990s, the magazine changed its style, aiming to bring in a larger readership. The move backfired, and they later admitted they "went looking for extra readers that weren't there, and pissed off several thousand that were". Attempts to revert were somewhat successful in regaining readers, but publishers EMAP decided that as performance cars were being covered by other magazines there were not enough readers to justify keeping ''Performance Car''. The final issue, July 1998, was published on 12 June 1998 before the magazine was merged into EMAP's other motoring magazine ''

Car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

''. Following one issue of ''Car'' with a Performance Car supplement, it remained much the same magazine as it was before, with little influence from ''Performance Car''. Following its demise, several of the writers from ''Performance Car'', including Richard Meaden, John Barker and Harry Metcalfe went on to found a new magazine, '' Evo'', which was launched at the end of 1998 and covered similar topics to those of ''Performance Car.''

2008 relaunch

''Performance Car'' magazine was re-launched in 2008 by Unity Media. The editorial team was made up of Dominic Holtam, Chris Knapman, Dan Prosser, Duncan Clarke, James Harrison and Max Earey. Dominic Holtam was editor of the publication after his spells at other Unity Media magazines including '' Performance BMW''. His aim was to continue the high-quality aspect of the magazine whilst retaining a real-world approach. The magazine closed once again at the end of 2009. Dan Prosser subsequently founded his own online publication, Mud, Snow and Tar.

References

{{reflist Magazines established in 1983 Magazines disestablished in 1998 Magazines established in 2008 Ascential Automobile magazines published in the United Kingdom Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom