Check out the wake flow behind Munkholm island here.  Either it’s a current, or a wind wake.  Looks pretty cool if you ask me.  Click the image for a larger view.

Then there’s the lovely summer sunsets that are beginning to take shape.  I like the view from our place now.

Ah…it’s such a optimistic time of the year if you ask me.

Would you look at that – the snow’s melted and the grass is green already!  We’re ready to play some football!  yes, I’ve got the replica ball – very tempted to get the official matchball, but at around 900 NOK’s that’s a lot of money to be throwing away on a football.

He’s perfected the art of diving already, so he’s a shoo in to make the national team.

End result is traffic chaos, articles in the paper, and a general sense of whinging and complaining that could easily be avoided if people decided that they could perhaps leave a day or two later.

The bonus for us ‘unfortunate’ folk stuck in town is that half the inhabitants are gone, giving the rest of us a very calm and peaceful Trondheim.

Easter is a nice time – the shops are all empty on a saturday except for models, which is highly unusual, as saturday is THE shopping day – everything is close sunday.

You do however find some interesting sights around.

The image on the right is the original, and the one on the left is ‘processed’.  Same picture, but a totally different mood don’t you think?  A little program called Topaz Adjust is a pretty cool little program.  Not to everyones taste, but sometimes the results can be fun.

The snow is finally melting – and then it starts snowing again…sheesh.  At least the weather forecast for easter is promising.

The only interesting part of the race was…no can’t really find anything.  Maybe me playing with the new mobile F1 app on my phone.  Seriously, with all that happened over the pre-season, and the new rule changes, new driver pairings – ultimately, it did nothing to make the racing more interesting.  If it weren’t for Vettel’s engine having an issue, the only meaningful pass in the race was Alonso overtaking Massa for 2nd at the start.  But, should I really be surprised?

The engine rules dictate a long lasting engine, and the teams have a limited number of engines they can use over the course of the season.  Plus, there’s an engine design freeze, and a rev-limit – there is no real hp advantage.  So, you’re not going to power your way past anyone.  Then, you have drivers taking care of their tyres during the race, so no-one wants to take any risks.  The tires are too good, so they don’t degrade meaningfully.  It would be nice if they got worse quickly, but not destroyed, so the cars slipped and slid more.  Then, to make matters even worse, the cars are so finely tuned aerodynamically, that any slight disturbance (i.e. being behind a car) makes their handling go to pot.  So cars can’t follow anyone close enough to give them overtaking opportunities.  So, it’s not hard to see why racing is dull.

What’s the fix?  Ban testing altogether, so you get cars that have never been driven on track for the first race, and then it’s a race to see who can fix their car the quickest during the course of the year?  Or bring back full testing, so the cars can be even more efficient?  Loosen up the tech regs so we get weird and wonderful solutions?  Or maybe just throw your hands up and give up the sport altogether?

Nah, that’s not going to happen either.  Maybe the trick is to simplify the sport?  Take away all the high-tech; telemetry, drive-by-wire, manual gearboxes, bring back the clutch pedal, no engine regs, stickier tyres – then you have a good mix of engineering, driver skill, and bombastic engines like they used to be.  Make an engine that scares the bejeebers out of the driver, and makes grown men cry in it’s presence on the track.  Take away power steering so driver fatigue comes into play.

Just look at how simple it all used to be.

Or maybe I’m over-reacting after one race, and we just need to wait and see how the season pans out.  But then again, isn’t that what we’ve all been doing for the past couple of seasons anyway?

All pictures are copyright Autosport.com/Sutton.

I’m starting to collect all the pictures from this winter here.

Well, there was a bit of a shakeup last year behind the scenes, and so with Michelle Yeoh’s husband in charge of the show, the new season shows great promise.  Rules are still silly, but now everyone is playing on the same page.  The quality of the competition looks on paper to be as strong as it’s been in a while with the optimistic outlook saying there are 4 teams – McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, and Brawn, that could compete for the title this year, with perhaps 2-3 others – Force India, Renault, and Williams that could surprise.  The big developments this year though have to be;

• Schumi returning
• Button joining McLaren as Hamilton’s teammate
• Alonso joining Ferrari
• The ban on refueling

These 4 reasons are why I decided that F1 was maybe worth watching this year.  The cars still look like crap and all out of proportion, but hey, if the competition is good, the season should be a cracker.

The first F1 race weekend has started, and I haven’t been this excited in a while.

Can you believe that she’s one of the scrutineers?!?  You go girl!  She’s one of the officials that approved McLarens fancy new airflow system to the backwing which all the other terms whined about saying it was unfair – so I’m a big fan.  Hopefully she sticks around for the rest of the season.

Well, at the end of the day, all the Merc powered cars are in front, but since it is the first practice of the year, no-one really knows who’s where in the field.  Suffice to say, the three new teams – Lotus, HRT, and Virgin will be bringing up the rear.  To make matters interesting, I’ll be watching with Norwegian commentary!!

All images are copyright Autosport.com/Sutton.