Racing at Christmas

I mentioned the other day that we were about halfway through the close season before F1 racing starts again. This year we have a gap from October to the middle of March. It wasn't always the case though, back in 1962 and 1963 the season only finished at the end of December.

In both years, there were races in South Africa, a country that I now associate with golf more than racing. That was the time of the 1.5 litre formula, when the cars were very light and nimble, and probably not as powerful as they should have been. But those regulations did produce some of the prettiest (in my view) cars ever built. The Lotus 25/33 and BRM P261 stand out as examples, but I digress. I'm currently wondering whether I should work on 28th December or not. It's a week away, but we have guests so working seems like a bad idea. But for drivers in 1963 it was a case of packing up and heading off to South Africa for the last race of the season. No Christmas celebrations with family - unless they come with you, and in those days, travel wasn't so easy as it is now. And I suspect that mechanics had a worse deal, travelling early to be with the cars. I guess the current schedule is a lot more acceptable, even if it does have 19 races instead of 9!