Girls At The Wheel

Early Formula One cars used steering wheels taken directly from road cars. They were normally made from wood (necessitating the use of driving gloves), and in the absence of packaging constraints they tended to be made as large a diameter as possible, to reduce the effort needed to turn. As cars grew progressively lower and cockpits narrower throughout the 1960s and 1970s, steering wheels became smaller, so as to fit into the more compact space available.
• Spokes in steering wheel
The number of spokes in the steering wheel has continuously changed. Most early cars had four-spoke steering wheels.
A Banjo Steering Wheel was an option on many early automobiles. Banjo Wheels predate power steering. The wire spokes were a buffer or absorber between the driver's hands and the drum of the road. Most were 3 or 4 spokes made of four or five wires in each spoke, hence the name "Banjo".