The battle one young driver is facing that is bigger than motorsport

Perspective can be a very important tool at any time of year. But it can be even more powerful as we exit the festive period when it can shine a spotlight on what really matters. Take national motorsport as an example; in the heat of the battle, arguments about controversial moves in a fight for third place can feel like the most important thing in the world. Yet, take a step back and deploy some perspective and suddenly it all becomes incredibly trivial.

It is easy to take things for granted until you receive a wake-up call of some kind, and the UK junior single-seater scene certainly received a devastating one in September when GB3 frontrunner Will Macintyre revealed he was being forced onto the sidelines amid a shock cancer diagnosis. A past runner-up in both Ginetta Junior and British Formula 4, Macintyre was an established name. But his season came to a devastating halt when he was seemingly diagnosed with lung and brain cancer aged 18.

You would probably have expected Macintyre to have received an intensive programme of treatment in the following months, but that’s not how events played out. Instead, he has faced pain and uncertainty. He admits the pain is near constant, depriving him of sleep, and is only alleviated by going swimming, while the uncertainty surrounds exactly what is wrong with him. A variety of tests have yet to definitively conclude the cause of the headaches he faced for months, with various doctors disagreeing on the initial assessment of a brain tumour. “For the last two months I haven’t done anything apart from sit at home in a lot of pain,” Macintyre reveals. “I’ve been told different things that could be wrong with me. One day I went to hospital thinking I had a bit of a migraine, and I still don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

The first sign for Macintyre that something wasn’t right came earlier this year when he began to get headaches. “I think it was May when I started feeling it,” he explains. “It just got worse and worse. At the end of July, I started to notice I was getting a bit weaker. In August, it started to become a constant thing where I would get headaches and I was throwing up a bit.”

Macintyre started to suffer with headaches in May

Photo by: JEP

As the situation worsened, Macintyre went to hospital to get checked over. “I told them I’m a racing driver and drive fast cars, so they looked at me a bit more seriously and gave me an MRI scan on the same day,” he says. “Within 30 minutes, they said you’ve got brain swelling.” But there has been less clarity since then.

Considering he battled illness for the majority of the GB3 season and missed the final two events, it is pretty remarkable that the Elite Motorsport driver still ended up ninth in the standings.

For all the misery Macintyre has endured this year, one thing he is grateful for is the support he’s received from the motorsport community. “Every single person, even if I’ve never really spoken to them, has been supportive,” he enthuses. “Max Verstappen and people like that sending a message, that’s really meaningful. It shows what a great community motorsport is – it’s a wonderful thing.”

That desire to get back behind the wheel is a major motivation for him during these dark days. It is something to aim towards, even though he has no idea when it will be possible

While Macintyre faces an uncertain immediate future, he is determined to race again as soon as he’s able. “I’m going to have a bit of time off,” he says. “I know that when I come back trying to get fast again isn’t going to be an issue. It’s choosing where I want to go and what path I want to take for the future. I’m excited – I want to race cars again.”

That desire to get back behind the wheel is a major motivation for him during these dark days. It is something to aim towards, even though he has no idea when it will be possible. Ultimately, Macintyre’s story is a cautionary one. It shines a very different perspective on those arguments that can proliferate between club motorsport competitors; it is sadly a painful reminder of there being far more important battles in life.