How to survive Christmas, according to Autocar

Bring a newer car, by all means, says museum director Allan Winn, but you’ll be directed to The Heights, a large parking area within easy walking distance. Food and drink is available, but come early or late: the traffic is hell between 9 and 10am. Check out the details here.

TRY A TRACK DAY

You won’t find a wide variety of events at this time of year, but help is still at hand. Javelin Trackdays has a car track day at Mallory Park, near Leicester, on 30 December (just a few days after its traditional Plum Pudding race meeting on Boxing Day) - details here. We’ve also spotted a club test day at Kames motorsport circuit, south of Glasgow, in East Ayrshire, on 27 December. You’d need to join the East Ayrshire Car Club, after which entry is just £35 per driver - details here.

HOW ABOUT A SPOT OF OFF-ROADING?

In theory, all you need is a 4x4 and a redundant field owned by a friendly farmer, but it never works like that. Far better to go to one of nine Land Rover Experience (LRE) centres distributed across the more scenic parts of the UK (and, increasingly, across Europe). You get to drive on tough 4x4 terrain in Land Rover’s own vehicles, learn driving technique by the book (essential for safety) and go home with a certificate, a lot of new knowledge and, potentially, the desire to own a Land Rover. Christmas hours of the various LRE centres vary widely because they’re franchises, but most are open - details of locations here.

TEST DRIVE A Jaguar F-Pace (OR WHATEVER ELSE YOU FANCY)

You never get time to visit dealerships, but there’s a car you’ve been burning to try, or perhaps even buy. Year-end deals abound. Why not organise a test drive? A receptionist at our local Jaguar dealer, Guy Salmon of Thames Ditton, Surrey, tells us they’ll be open all day on four of the 10 days’ break, and for shorter hours on two more. Ring first if the car is rare, because it may take a bit of organising.

TAKE IN A BANGER RACE

Competitors in this spectacular form of car competition don’t care about rain and mud, just as their hardy spectators don’t care about rain and cold. You’ll find banger racing thriving all over the country at this time of year – including at Yarmouth, Birmingham and London’s famous Wimbledon Stadium. Fancy a competition called Micro Madness, in which four-a-side teams battle one another to a crazy finish? Here’s your chance - much more here.

JOIN YOUR CAR CLUB FRIENDS ON A RUN

Car clubs often stage unusual activities at a time like this: winter runs through the country, breakfast gatherings, perhaps even maintenance sessions. At Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, near Worcester, the Midland Automobile Club is planning a traditional track walk on New Year’s Day, with walkers free to stroll between about 10am and mid-afternoon. The track is steep and it’ll probably be very cold, but there’s no better way of getting familiar with the world’s oldest working race track for the new season than this.

SEE A CAR MOVIE

If you’ve had the foresight to mention it before Christmas to your loved ones, maybe you’ll have a new copy of Senna, or Grand Prix, or Genevieve, or Weekend of a Champion as part of your Christmas loot. Congrats if so.

However, our recommendation would be to find a theatre showing the biopic Crash & Burn, the life story of Irish driver Tommy Byrne, who briefly made it to Formula One and could allegedly have been better than Ayrton Senna, had he been able to resist off-track temptations.

“Forget Schumacher and Senna,” says Eddie Jordan. “Tommy Byrne was the best of them all.” Watch the trailer here.

GO TO A NEW YEAR CLASSIC CAR MEET

Pubs with generous grounds tend to specialise in these. There’s a huge New Year’s Day affair in the Hampshire town of Hartley Wintney that fills the green surrounding a pub called The Phoenix. The advice is to go early. The number and variety of cars is mind-boggling.

TAKE THAT GREAT DRIVE YOU ALWAYS THINK ABOUT

We all have favourite roads. To be enjoyed properly, they need to be fairly clear of traffic, and you’ll have noticed in previous Christmas breaks that on some days (the day after Boxing Day is good) roads can be remarkably clear, because most people are still indoors as the festive torpor fades. That’s the time to drive.

Rural Scotland is crisscrossed with beautiful roads, but there are fine roads wherever you live in the UK. Whatever you drive, make an issue of this. Choose your route beforehand, get up early, wear the right clothes, clear the cabin of stuff that rattles, ensure the tyre pressures are spot on and the screen is crystal-clear inside and out. Dip the oil, fill the tank, make sure you wear the right shoes – and prepare for one of the most pleasurable yet most accessible experiences of modern life.

GET YOUR CAR DETAILED FOR 2017