SeaBee

Back to the noses - the safety idea behind this was to lower the impact point in possible collisions. Even before the first race, Adrian Newey said this may lead to "submarining". That said, prior to noses starting to lift for aero effect, everybody had low noses (which actually looked much better than anything recent) and I don't recall many (if any) submarining incidents. This was the case in the first race with Massa - there's a very interesting photo of that somewhere, will post if I find it. But yesterday, as has been stated, was wheel-on-wheel, that can happen in any open-wheel formula.

...and to show you just how personal it is, I disliked my Rudy's, simply could not get them to sit properly, eyes kept on getting wind on them, plus they seemed to attract moisture - and did not shed any! Riding even in light mist was... interesting! Also did not like photochromatic lenses. Nifty idea, but messed around with my eyes and never adjusts quickly enough. I went with Oakley - for MTB'ing, just make sure it's a lighish lens, not too light, but never too dark. Something like a G30 (which I use) or VR28 works for me. I only use darker lenses if I KNOW I'm not going anywhere near trees and it's a very bright day. So - buying for somebody else without that person's input, might end up an exercise in futility. Rather leave the surprise factor out of it - but that's just me being my boring over-common-sensical self.

Hmmm... just a few pages ago we were all complaining about how predictable, boring and over reliable the cars and racing have become. We asked for some mechanicals, just to add some spice. Now we get 6 retirements... And then from those 6, 3 (Sutil, Vergne and Gutierrez) were accident-related, two were both Maccas with the same issue... and the other was an oil leak on a Caterham. In the 80's that would have been called "exceptional reliability"... and this is only the 3rd race with completely new regs. Sorry, just my 2c.

Come ON... Seriously?! 10 place grid penalty for unsafe release. And Mad hatter Maldonado only gets a FIVE place grid penalty for that brain-dead moment?! SC screwed up the whole race. I would have liked the two different strategies play out in the Merc camp - interesting one that. At least there were some dicing between the front guys - and plenty behind them as well. Much better than last week. Those RB's are seriously well handling cars - wow, they STICK... Unfortunately, as somebody else mentioned, the cars plays a great role and esp at this early stage of new regs. You can see that by the finishing order as well. Very chuffed for the Force India's and good to see Williams really back in the dice - haven't been mixing it with the top guys for way too long.

If I remember correctly, last year was quite exciting - until certain teams went and wined about tyres and they changed the tyre specs mid-season, taking everybody who designed cars that actually worked with the original tyres out of the picture. FIA brilliance to the fore yet again. And face it, Aus was the same as last year, all the overtaking taking place behind the leader, who simply managed the gap. They (Merc) never revealed their hand and never showed close to full potential, as I stated after the race. Don't write off Kimi yet. He had Alonso's number all weekend, just missed out on qualifying in the wet (where Alonso is good). And then mr Magnussen sniped him on lap 1 - you don't recovery from that nowadays. But after two rounds, 2-0 for Alonso. Had a huge grin at the whole Williams radio message saga throughout the race - that was entertaining! Quite interesting to see how quickly RB regained their pace... and how McLaren stepped backwards over the weekend. Wondering whether it's track characteristics that suited the Maccas in Aus, whether some cars work better on certain tyre compounds... or whether the Bulls simply found their wings. Will be interesting to see how many of the people that complained about them last year will end up cheering for them this year if the Mercs continue to overwhelm everybody and RB does manage to take the fight to them.

Now there's a guy that exceeded his machine's abilities as well: mr Stoner. Unreal how he could make that waddling Duc look like an unbeatable machine, when it was just his brilliance. many have tried but nobody since could make that Ducati look like anything - and that includes his teammates at the same time - the ultimate measure. The Honda just made it too easy, almost... Still miffed at his early retirement, would've loved to see him and Marquez in one team!

Gnarly - I was looking at the names and wonder whether it was thé Ben Bostrom! Good grief... I constantly had the feeling that Rossi was happy in 2nd in those latter laps, just pushing-pushing-puuussshing the youngster to see if he will go over the edge, much like he did to many rivals in years gone by. (Biggest sucker for that trick was Mad Max!) And he very nearly succeeded a couple of times... Must say the biggest disappointments for me over the weekend were Espargaro's no-show in quali as well as Bautista throwing it away so close to the end (that really miffed me). Missed Moto2, but those Moto3 laaities had the mother of all scraps... which is about the norm for Moto3. Fearless... absolute great fun to watch!

What an awesome race! Master and the young gun - great riding! More than can be said for several others...

Almost time to lock n load! Can't wait, though I'll be missing most of it. Will be able to catch the race, though! Hope they sort out this sheet with Ducati running (lat I've heard) under it's own set of rules, really ridiculous.

?! Don't want to stir, but sorry... I fail to see the cruciality (new word for the day!) of Stellenbosch in this context. We have a very nice riding area as part of our back yards. It takes me longer to load my bike in the bakkie, let alone drive the 45k's just down the road to Stellies, than it does to get from my home to the turn-off into Paarl mountain (<4 min by bike). This counts a fair bit, esp for midweek rides. If you're talking about purpose-built trails - Wellington (Welvanpas) is much closer. If you're talking about wine... heck, then you really don't have to leave Paarl!

I said that numerous pages ago... Fuel restrictions was tried in the 80's, was stopped after a season or two. Why bring it back?! Interesting how it seems the guys are actually quite confident that it will not really affect the racing so much - and it seems more of the "hype" around this is created by the commentary team. What I'm even more PO'ed about is why even restrict something silly like wind tunnel testing?! I mean really... why?! By now a lot of teams have invested in wind tunnels, only to be told now that hey, you may only use it for x hours per season. (We seriosuly need a facepalm smiley...) Also agree on the helmet identity thing. Get your design and stick to it, with maybe subtle changes from time to time. I'm guessing both Merc guys went for a redesign due to their colours clashing, with both using (okay, having used) yellow helmets.

I must say... (and this has gotten bugger-all to do with the race) that I thought that Nico is the guy with the coolest helmet! That matt black design works for me. Seriously impressive showing by the McLarens... young Magnussen did really well - what a debut! Likewise Kvyat... Ferrari will be seriously worried about their lack of pace. And... I really think they simply managed Nico's lead. Have a very sneaky feeling that that car is capable of much more. Noses on the cars did not look as hideous in action as on the photo's. Notable exceptions are the STR's. Some of them actually reminded me of the 80's Brabhams with just a bit out at the front - esp Williams. What I really cannot fathom - why do they tighten the rules regarding reliability together with a complete change in the formula?! Give it a year to settle down, THEN bring it down to 5 power units per car per season. Another brain-dead FIA decision, in my opinion. What I really really liked - the cars stepped out a bit! So nice to see some loss of traction coming out of corners, it actually looked like motor racing and not scalectrix.

I was... But I just went for an early morning cruise (see-the-trails-again-after-some-months) and did more walking and taking photo's than riding. Surprised nobody rode into me from behind! Some more rides there will seriously improve my skills...

Some interesting first pics coming out of Aus (less than 24h to engines!) Mock-up of a the Mac with more prominent Mobil logo's - official. (Does this mean this is Jenson's year - in 09 the Brawn also had no sponsors for most events!) And Caterham is also trying the blac-nose cammo tecnique. Wonder hoe this will look on-track... Almost time!

Found the same, Andre... different group, but same mentality. Everybody hogging the right on the climbs. Having been braking (yes, on climbs), spent time evading, bumped onto gravel and what not all on the right... I simply went left and found and entire open lane up most of the climbs. Maybe we should start telling everybody that's where the space is, then we can have the right-hand side of the road open next year!

Fortunately there's that nifty red dot button on the remote... The more difficult thing for some people is to then stay away from social media! I have to watch a lot of races "delayed live"...

Hey Ilana, great to hear! BTW, my journey was set out earlier - also from J, so we'd have ridden together until I went for a jol after my incidents. I nearly made your books for crashes in our group a couple of times! I rolled in less than 10 mins later, having had a blast for the last half... ehhhr well, except for sitting on my own through Sun Valley, that was not fun - though got a couple of nice chirps in there! Actually thought I'd have lost a lot more time - and really enjoyed my ride once I went my separate way.

Unreal... next week this time we'll be discussing the first race! Wasn't there a Hub Superbru pool last year?

Mine ended as a "value for money" exercise. Rode hard enough initially, but before halfway I've been working up front alone, with only one other guy helping, pushed into the gutter, nearly going down at speed, pushed onto the gravel, the latter both due to guys simply changing lines blindly... and I'm not the biggest. Then I decided to just say stuff this, let them go and write themselves off. It's windy, I'm not going to ride a good race time-wise... so why not enjoy the ride?! Went on a jol from there. Enjoyed the views, enjoyed the vibe, smile 'n wave and had fun with the people who made the effort of coming to support us, chatted to some fellow riders... In the end I rode a "bad" time, but had a great time! If I wake up to another howler of a wind on Argus morning, I'm taking my 29er and riding in that spirit all the way.

A nice and clean design. Quite like it... but would have liked them to go/stay blue. Hope they can maintain their pre-season form. Just not right to see them battle like the last couple of years. At least not another silver/grey car!

Iwan, is that for sure or just another speculation of which there is quite a number (some really awesome!) floating around? Because to my knowledge they will only reveal the livery in Australia. But... it will be great to see the Martini stripes back!

Sorry Rouxtjie, I just went the other way a couple of months ago... Put some S-Tracks on my road bike as well and... got myself another (better) set of MTB shoes - my current ones will be replaced by them gradually. Jammer om van hulle probleme te hoor!

Presuming you're only talking "senior-class title" here. But there's a lot of Biaggi and Mamola fans that will beg to differ on that not-so-wanted award... Personally think Max should win that award.

They're talking about the m-se number boards for the Argus MTB. You can use it as an aero device.

Kim didn't like the nose... (good thing he didn't stay at Lotus, then!