How an unspectacular showing in a kart race is such good reason to celebrate

It remains inspiring to see the British motorsport community come together to support Will Macintyre’s Project iMRI initiative. The BRDC Rising Star and Innes Ireland Trophy winner had his race-winning GB3 campaign interrupted last year due to an extremely rare case of Neuro XLP1 syndrome. 

The latest fundraising event was held at the end of August, with the #TeamWill37 Charity Kart Race taking place at the recently opened Silverstone karting venue to raise funds towards the £6million target for the new Intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (iMRI) facility at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. 

The iMRI will considerably reduce diagnosis and treatment timelines for patients suffering from cases like Macintyre’s. 

The Silverstone race may have been about having fun and raising money for a fantastic cause, but it also attracted an impressive list of established names: Aston Martin Formula 1 reserve Jak Crawford, British Touring Car Championship rising star Daryl De Leon, GB3 frontrunner Deagen Fairclough and GB4 title contender Fred Green, to name but a few. Various younger karting stars also lined the room and it was clear this was going to be a competitive contest. 

Autosport kindly nominated me as the publication’s representative, and I confidently stepped into the drivers’ briefing room, determined not to let the editorial team down. For the two-hour endurance race, Team Autosport’s driver pool was completed by a photographer and two club racers, all with limited karting experience. 

With a decade of karting under my belt, we concluded that I would set our qualifying lap and start the race. Trying to stay optimistic despite having never raced at the venue, I climbed aboard our number-three kart to attack the circuit. Sadly, it soon became clear that all was not well with our little trojan. 

The understeer wasn’t a limiting factor, but the rather feeble straightline speed that our kart was cursed with certainly was. Despite my efforts, Team Autosport was relegated to the second-to-last row on the grid. Nevertheless, I was determined to make up places on the opening lap, and adopted a Wacky Races ploy in a futile bid to drag our beleaguered team into the midfield fight. 

Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft has become a big supporter of Macintyre’s fundraising effort

It worked for approximately three corners until the young kart racers firmly put our machine in its rightful place in the pecking order. The pack soon pulled away, and none of our squad could make much progress – the penalty we got for speeding in the pits was immaterial by the end as we finished one position up from where we started. 

Nonetheless, the race had been terrifically good fun and the cause we were all there to support made up for any disappointment at the result. The winners were a group of young kart racers who clearly had a blast themselves and acknowledged that Macintyre’s story was what really mattered on the night. The team leader of the winning group was Noah Wolfe, and his father Roger explained the importance of the event. 

“As a family who have been racing for 10 years ourselves, it’s amazing to see the number of people who have come here to support the charity,” said Wolfe Sr. “It’s even better to see everyone here enjoying themselves. Racing is very stressful, as we know, so seeing everyone come out here and having a great time is just amazing.” 

“It was unbelievable. Just how many people were there to support me, not just mates but also people who I’ve never spoken to or met before” Will Macintyre

The charity event itself was a resounding success, with an impressive £127,000 being raised by the end of the evening. This was a combination of the kart race and an online auction of motorsport memorabilia, including one of Arvid Lindblad’s F1 helmets and an ex-Team Lotus Ford Cosworth DFV engine block converted into a coffee table.  

Macintyre was able to attend on the day and reflected on how brilliant the support had been: “It was unbelievable. Just how many people were there to support me, not just mates but also people who I’ve never spoken to or met before. There were over 160 drivers there and the money that was raised was incredible.” 

While I may have been disappointed by failing to uphold Autosport honour on track, the knowledge that all the drivers were supporting the worthy Macintyre cause was all we really wanted from the night. In that regard, it was mission success.

For more information and to donate to Project iMRI visit willmacintyre.co.uk

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the October 2026 issue and subscribe today.

An impressive £127,000 was raised by end of the day’s events