Let's scrap blank days before Christmas and give punters the gift of racing

For some reason, whenever the word innovation is mentioned in relation to racing, it seems to invite attempts to completely change the nature of the sport and to start mimicking other ones.

Formula One, in particular, seems to be a particularly bizarre obsession for such aspiring innovators. “Let’s close a city centre for a day and put down a racetrack – look at the Monaco Grand Prix,” says one. “Why don’t we ask a load of blue-chip brands to sponsor horseracing teams in a new championship series?” asks another.

Unsurprisingly, the ideas that have actually proved to be successful have not involved tearing down city centres or creating a Red Bull team of soon to be completely anonymous 0-90 handicappers. What has worked is just keeping things simple.