Billy Monger - Spurs fan, racing driver, inspiration...

Just over a week after Billy’s Big Red Nose Day Challenge for Comic Relief, Billy Monger looked out at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time.

“This place is just ridiculous,” he said, taking it all in, and imagining what the atmosphere would be like with 62,000-plus fans in. “I’d love to come back soon when the crowds are back.”

Sentiments we all echo, of course, and it’s safe to say the welcome for ‘Billy Whizz’ would be quite something.

Billy, 21, recovered from an horrific crash in April, 2017 - a crash that left him as a double leg amputee - to take his place in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship less than a year later. His determination and resilience to get back behind the wheel led to him being awarded the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in 2018.

Things have been quiet on the track for a while due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, Billy decided to tackle the ‘toughest physical challenge I've ever had to take on in my life’ to raise funds for Comic Relief.

In February, he walked, cycled and kayaked an Ironman distance of 140 miles in four days - a walk from Newcastle to Durham Castle, kayaking on Ullswater Lake, cycling 65 miles from Birmingham to Blenheim Palace and the last stage, 50 miles around the Brands Hatch circuit.

“It was an emotional rollercoaster, it really was,” Billy told us during half-time of our 4-1 win against Palace.

That was on 7 March. At the time, he had no idea how much money had had raised for Comic Relief. Eleven days later, a special documentary on BBC told the story of his Big Red Nose Day Challenge. The day after that, Red Nose Day, 19 March, hosts Davina McCall and Paddy McGuinness revealed he had raised the staggering figure of £2,376,183. Billy proudly revealed on Twitter on Tuesday that figure had now topped £3million. Wow.

Back to 7 March, Billy continued explaining his feelings at finishing the challenge. “You can’t fully describe an experience like that, something so different to what I’m used to doing, it really took me out of my comfort zone,” he said.

“The one thing that struck me though is when you are not just doing something for yourself, but doing it for a bigger picture, I found another level of determination when I needed it. There were times when it was so hard that I needed that, and I really found it.”

Jose's special message to Billy

It was time to talk Spurs. So often, it’s a family thing, the support of our great club passed down from generation to generation. Not so for Billy. If racing has been his life, it’s also the root of his love for Spurs.

“When I was younger, I used to play a bit of football before I started racing at the age of eight,” he explained. “I’d play a bit and support whoever was doing well, I wasn’t that good at football, so whoever anyone else was supporting, I’d support.

“When I was nine or 10, fully into my racing, away most weekends competing, the guy who I drove for in go-carts, my team boss, basically, was a massive Tottenham fan - Jamie Croxford (Forza Racing). He would always watch the games and I’d be around with him a lot travelling to different tracks, and he’d always have a Spurs game on, so it all started from there. He really got me into it.

“I remember Rafa van der Vaart, that era, 2010, 2011, then watching Gareth Bale. I missed going to White Hart Lane, purely because of my racing. I’d be away most weekends, so most of the week I’d be on schoolwork, then at the weekend I’d be away racing, but I’d always catch up on Match of the Day, or if we’re on live, try to watch the game on TV.

"In terms of live football, I haven’t seen too much in my time, but I did manage to get to a couple of matches at Wembley. Funnily enough, in the last year or so, with less racing, I’ve been able to watch plenty of the games, so that’s been great. I love Gareth Bale, love him. I’m so happy to see him out there.”

A final question. How had he taken everything in his stride? The way he has dealt with everything is quite incredible, the mindset to be able to move on from that life-changing accident back in 2017 and be where he is today, helping change the lives of others.

“It was either do that, or admit defeat at 17, 18,” he said. “I’m not going to lie, it was tough, and sometimes admitting defeat was the easy option and maybe part of me wanted to do that, but I had great people around me, people who kept me focussed on the future, my doctors, the team I had around me were mega and they got me in the frame of mind of thinking about what was possible, rather than what wasn’t.

“As soon as you have targets to aim for, you can go after them with everything you have. I know I lost my legs and things have been tough, but I was still happy to be here, happy to be breathing and ready to do what I could do. They made me grateful for what I still had rather than what I’d lost. If you took a few seconds to think about what you’ve got, rather than what you haven’t got, then you’d actually realise you’ve got a lot already.”