A young race driver has pleaded with sponsors for ‘a chance’ after the death of his dad put his life on hold.

Motorsport came into Archie Mace’s life when he was just seven-years-old, and ever since he spend most of his weekends going to races with his dad Paul Mace, a workshop owner and motorsport enthusiast.

Now the 18-year-old Penn resident Archie is facing an unknown future after not just losing his father, but also “90 percent” of his life when Paul passed away in 2020.

Unfortunately, racing is not like rugby or football, and moving up to the next level towards Formula Four costs hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, Archie said.

He said: “I’ve been involved since such a young age, and you do it at the weekends. When you start doing it every weekend and doing the national championships, you want to take it seriously and think ‘this is what I want to do’.”

He knew racing was his future “the first day I stepped in a car.”

He said: “It was the day before my seventh birthday. We went to the Rye House, where Lewis Hamilton started. I remember doing my first lap just driving around, and I knew instantly what I wanted to do.

Many races after, Archie “100 percent” sees it as his career.

He said: “For me, the next level is going to be roughly around the £300,000 mark per year, and then it’s just going to get more and more expensive, which is a shame, and that’s why there’s so many people who haven’t made it because how much money it is.

“I want to change that. There’s so many of us who give up, they’ve been doing it for so long and then give up. I can’t really see myself doing anything else.”

No matter how many jobs Archie took, he wouldn’t be able to cover the costs of racing and living on the average salary of an 18-year-old. One test day costs around £6,000 and set of tyres around £1,000.

When his dad passed away after lung cancer in July 2020, then 16-year-old Archie was forced to grow up overnight.

During the devastating loss of his father, Archie also had to come to terms with new normal, because everything relating to racing – weekends away, financing, and sponsoring - had been managed by Paul.

Archie took racing “very seriously”, even skipping parties to focus on racing.

He explained: “He was the centre, and as soon as he went, that all went.”

“I’ve grown up so much from then to now, and that was only a couple of years ago.

“You also have to come a man of the house.”

“When something like that happened, you don’t just lose your father, but you lose your career, because he managed all my money and racing, where I was going to go and had a lot of contacts, and through him Porsche backed me when I was first starting out.”

The Cadet class cars go at the speed of around 40-60 mph, Junior class 60-80mph, and seniors are even faster. The Formula Four cars nowadays, which is the class Archie wants to make his career in, reach around 135-140mph. There's also new all electric series called Formula E. 

Bucks Free Press: Earlier this year, Archie was the first British driver to test the new electric F4 car.Earlier this year, Archie was the first British driver to test the new electric F4 car. (Image: Archie Mace)

After finishing college recently, he’s focused on trying to find sponsors and reaching out to anyone willing to give him a shot.

Despite the lifechanging loss, Archie said “I still can’t see myself doing anything else, I love it so much.”

His main inspiration is Esteban Ocon, the 26-year-old French Alpine Formula One driver, whose family sold their workshop and house to travel around Europe in a van for his competitions to get him into Formula One, Archie said.

“There’s a couple of drivers who have made it without money, but it’s very rare nowadays. If we look at the Formula One grid, at least about 75-80 percent of them come from super rich backgrounds and have had that funding.

“Nowadays, because of the prices are going up, it’s getting worse.”

Archie’s mission is to find the money and a team to get him to Formula Four, and his message to potential sponsors was to “just give some people a chance.”

Follow Archie on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. 

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