Setting Purple Sectors was a unique charity event hosted by F1 Commentator Chris McCarthy in support of Young Epilepsy. This exciting event brought together some of the best drivers, sim-racers, and broadcasters from the world of motor racing. It took place on Tuesday 12th November, and was streamed live on Tiltify from Simply Race, Milton Keynes.
Racing fan and student journalist Harry Smith got the opportunity to attend the event and race alongside some of the greatest motorsport drivers in the world, all in aid of charity and raising awareness of epilepsy.
Heading into the Setting Purple Sector event last month, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a pre-race press conference rather than a charity event. Everywhere I looked. I could see the great and good of motorsport from right across the spectrum of disciplines.
The evening was a racing fan’s dream, with participants given the opportunity to take driving advice from team leader Will Dendy. Each seat in the racing simulator could be bought for £99, allowing participants to go for a spin around the track with or against some of the best motorsport drivers in the world.
For me, spinning was the operative word, as that seemed to be all I could do. The feedback steering in the top-of-the-line simulator was too much for someone whose only motoring experience is wrestling a Toyota Yaris to Tesco.
I would have much preferred my first experience racing not to have been under the eye of Global Touring Champion and Formula E driver Will Dendy or, much less, against Red Bull F1’s newest reserve driver. Isack Hadjar.
Chris McCarthy: a story of resilience and passion
This whole event, from fundraising to broadcasting, was filled with enough famous names to fill a race grid. This included the brainchild of Formula 2 and Formula 3 race commentator Chris McCarthy.
As a racing prodigy as a teenager, Chris was sixth-seeded in the Makati national championship and a member of Race Academy, the prestigious motorsport talent programme, before his diagnosis of epilepsy at age 17, in which he had a major fit whilst at the karting track.
After his recovery, he returned to the track to thank the staff for helping him and decided to continue to pursue his passion.
Chris said: “So it was on the drive home I said to my dad, I can’t make this the last time I leave the track.”
That sense of perseverance was what he’d needed to succeed in his karting career and go on to re-evaluate his life.
Chris added: “It was built into us as drivers when we were going through our careers that this might not work out.”
Now aged 30, Chris commentates Formula 1 Kids, Formula 2, and Formula 3, as well as a selection of small television acting roles.
Through this, epilepsy is still present in his life. Initially reluctant to disclose it for fear of it damaging his career. According to his father, Chris once told colleagues he had been in a fight with a driver. When in reality, he’d injured his face and head during a fit trackside.
Setting Purple Sectors: Chris McCarthy’s mission for epilepsy awareness
In something of a remarkable change, Chris went from being ”in denial” to being able to bring together the motorsport community in aid of such a personal cause: “It was quite a scary process,” he said. “I found once I actually opened up to the public and said, I suffer with this, put my hands up and conceded defeat.”
Chris is now using that self-knowledge to help young people with epilepsy.
The live stream racing raised £15,000 through donations and participation. Even more noteworthy was the awareness it raised for the charity’s work in two days, Young Epilepsy received 300,000 impressions on Instagram and 90,000 on Twitter.
Even putting aside the impressions on social media, the impressions on the recipients of Young Epilepsy’s work are just as profound. The condition often prevents sufferers from driving, so simulator racing against some of the biggest names in motorsport is a fitting replacement for one of life’s fundamental experiences.
You can find out more about Young Epilepsy by visiting its website and following on Twitter and Instagram. You can also check out the stream on YouTube.