What does it take to be the cover car from the GRM Challenge?

Some come to drive, some come to be fast, some come to meet people, and some.... some come trying to make it on the cover of GRM magazine! I'm talking about the GRM Challenge!

So, what does it take to make the cover? Tips, tricks, insider scoops, what do you guys have? Go!

Also, if there's a way to get pictures of all the covers with GRM Challenge winners that would be pretty neat to have in this thread. 

I have never made the cover but I have had a lot of pictures of my cars in the challenge issue. 

The year we built the fiero we had twice if not three times the pages space of the car that won.  I guess the secret is an interesting story.

Also a decent looking car helps.  Spray painting a truck in the hotel parking lot pretty much guarantees you will not get on the cover

Good bodywork and paint gets your foot in the door, from there, you want something that's interesting but not too weird (being covered in inside jokes is too weird).

Show some leg.

Not being a boring color, they've asked for less silver, grey, white and black entries to be able to brighten it up. 

I have no answer for you.  Even winning the event, or running 9s in the drags may not get you a cover.  (Someone should add them up, but Datsuns seem to do well.)

If you're looking for a formula, you probably won't find one.

If you're looking for an answer, bring the car that the staff thinks looks coolest?

Robbie said:

 

If you're looking for an answer, bring the car that the staff thinks looks coolest?

 

That and make sure that they get a really good picture of your really cool car.  

At the end of the day, it's a bunch of us humans picking out whatever they think is best (and the criteria aren't written down, consistent, or even tangible in many cases). However, the following will help:

• Get us to take a good photo of your car. "But I can't control that," you're saying. Wrong. Make as many runs as possible, and make sure the car is clean and not missing any body panels, riding on mismatched wheels, etc. for every single run. It takes a few tries to get a good photo, and that's all down the drain if you take your hood off after the first autocross run, or if you only do one autocross run. On the drags, make sure you do passes in each lane–one always photographs better than the other, and it's not the same from year to year. 
• Paint your car an engaging color. The goal of the cover is to convince unfamiliar people to pick up the magazine and read it, so it needs to be cooler, brighter, and more engaging than the copy of Quality Knitting next to it on the rack. This means white, black, dark colors, and hard to photograph color combinations are out. Here's an easy test: photograph your car at noon in direct sunlight with your smartphone and no filters, exposure adjustments, effort, etc. Can you see every body line? Are any areas over- or under-exposed? Make your car as easy to photograph as possible, and you'll up your chances. Once you switch to the view on your phone where every photo is just a thumbnail, make sure the photo of your car stands out like a sore thumb and grabs your attention. It shouldn't blend in.
• Drive a car the average GRM magazine shopper will appreciate. What's that? Again, not sure, but it isn't a flat-black collection of awkward tubes. Again, the goal of the cover is to get people to pick up the magazine, so we have to pick something relatable, obvious at first sight as a sports car, and still super cool and GRM-y. 

Hope this helps!

Tom Suddard said:

obvious at first sight as a sports car

 

But but but, I'm building a truck next!

In reply to Tom Suddard :

Hey, quit picking on Quality Knitting! That's my 2nd favorite magazine, especially the articles about lightweight needle mods...

In reply to Tom Suddard :

Going to the local car dealerships at noon and photographing every car so I can pick the proper color. 

Putting it in the Research and development part of my build book that doesn’t exist yet.