On Christmas Day, 1957, Denis Jenkinson, a correspondent for Autocar’s one-time sister publication Motorsport, set off for a quiet country drive from The Phoenix Inn in Hartley Wintney.
Nothing too unusual about that, until you learn that the resulting loop of Hampshire was conducted in a Lotus 12 single-seater, as raced by Graham Hill in Formula 2 events that year.
The car had been delivered on a trailer attached to a Ford Consul, driven from Hethel to Hampshire by Lotus chief Colin Chapman – and Jenkinson claimed to have topped 120mph somewhere just outside of Basingstoke before a driveshaft failure ended his jaunt some 30 miles into a planned 180-mile circuit.
Technically there weren’t any speed limits back then but, even considering that and the pretence of a trade plate carried by Jenkinson, the whole exercise was of course hugely and blatantly illegal. But Jenkinson pulled it off without attracting undue attention, in part because it was Christmas Day, so there were few motorists on the road and hardly any police to be seen.
Okay, I’m not suggesting you should wheel out a single-seater race car for a pre-turkey blast (although if anyone wants to drop off an F1 car at a hostelry near me, I’m game), but there is a genuine, rare joy to driving on 25 December. Not the days around it, when the roads are clogged with last-minute shoppers and frazzled holiday travellers, but on Christmas Day itself there’s generally a rare tranquillity to proceedings.
The key is that there are fewer people on the road and virtually no commercial vehicles; there’s simply more space and less pressure. And generally motorists show some form of festive spirit; it’s the season of goodwill, and for one day people seem to be a bit nicer, leaving more room and generally behaving better.
But the real joy is that the roads are so peaceful. With so many people gathered round pulling crackers and toasting on eggnog, it’s possible to have some road to yourself, whether to push on a bit or just to relax and cruise. Heck, even if you’re making a long trip to have a tedious lunch with those boorish relatives you spend the rest of the year trying to avoid, the roads are deserted enough that you can take your time getting there and at least enjoy the serenity before chaos is unleashed.
Of course, driving in 2025 is a different ball game than in the 1950s: ANPR speed cameras don’t take a day off to open their stockings, nor are potholes magically filled in with lumps of coal. But with a bit of care, and especially if the weather is nice, a quiet drive on Christmas Day can be one of the most pleasurable things you can do over the festive season.
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