curated by GRRL! updated: January 28, 2026

Bio Excerpt: Megan Gilkes knew when to hold and when to fold, which explains why the Canadian driver walked away from racing at 22 to join Aston Martin’s F1 Team as a performance engineer. Born into a racing family in 2000, she started karting in Barbados at nine,... (full bio below ↓↓)

Megan Gilkes

Formula racer

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January 23, 2001 (25)

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Formula racing

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165cm

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inspiration(s):

her grandfather and her father

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GRRL-0547

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Megan Gilkes talks with James about Racing F2000 and more. | Megan Gilkes

March 2, 2019 / views: 925 / run: 00:07:27

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Megan's full bio:

(last updated 2026-01-26

Megan Gilkes is a retired Canadian racing driver who traded her helmet for a headset, stepping away from professional competition at just 22 to join Aston Martin’s F1 Team as a performance engineer—proof that sometimes the smartest move in motorsport isn’t the next apex, but the pit wall.

EARLY YEARS

Born November 6, 2000, in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, Megan Gilkes came from a family where racing was practically genetic. Her grandfather found success racing Minis in 1960s and ’70s England, while her father, Brent, competed in Formula Ford before graduating to British and European Opel Lotus in the 1980s. Her younger brother Nick would also catch the racing bug, eventually competing in GB3.

The Gilkes family’s time in Barbados during Megan’s childhood put her on track—literally. At nine years old, she started karting on the island alongside future F2 driver Zane Maloney, who was just eight at the time. By age ten, she was leading the overall Barbados Karting Association’s Frutee Championship and dominating the Easykart 60cc class. She won the 2011 Easykart 60cc half-season championship and qualified for the World Finals that same year—not bad for a kid who’d only been racing for two years.

But motorsport has a way of humbling you fast. A heavy crash in Italy sidelined her from 2012 through 2014 with a broken arm—a brutal interruption for any young driver trying to build momentum.

OTHER INTERESTS

While most racing drivers spend their downtime obsessing over telemetry, Gilkes was hitting the books—hard. She enrolled at Imperial College London to study aeronautical engineering, one of the most demanding programs on the planet. Balancing lectures, lab work, and racing schedules across multiple countries would’ve broken most people. But she managed it anyway, eventually graduating with an engineering degree that would prove just as valuable as any podium finish.

Her engineering pursuits weren’t just academic exercises. She gained work experience with the Mercedes F1 Team and later with Aston Martin, getting an inside look at the sport from the other side of the garage. It turns out studying aerodynamics while actively experiencing downforce at 150 mph gives you a perspective most engineers—and most drivers—will never have.

EARLY SUCCESS

After recovering from her crash and returning to Canada, Gilkes picked up where she left off—winning. She claimed the Ottawa Challenge Karting Cup and finished second in the 2016 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship, doing so as an ambassador for Dare to be Different, the initiative aimed at getting more women into motorsport.

By 2017, at just 16, she made the leap to cars, starting in Formula Vee—a $5,000 car that’s basically a go-kart with fenders. Within two years, she’d progressed to testing a turbocharged Ligier F3 car with 300 horsepower. That’s not a gradual learning curve; that’s a rocket trajectory.

In 2019, she earned a spot in the inaugural W Series season, the all-female racing championship that was making headlines and raising eyebrows in equal measure. She didn’t just show up—she made history. At the non-championship race in Assen, Netherlands, Gilkes won in a photo finish over Alice Powell by three-thousandths of a second, becoming the youngest-ever W Series race winner. She stood on that podium, champagne in hand, and proved she belonged.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

2011: Won the Barbados Easykart 60cc half-season championship and qualified for the World Finals.
2016: Won the Ottawa Challenge Karting Cup and finished runner-up in the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship.
2019: Became the youngest-ever W Series race winner with victory at Assen, Netherlands.
2020: Competed in the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship, setting fastest time in practice at Shannonville Motorsport Park.
2022: Finished sixth in the GB4 Championship standings after completing the full season with Hillspeed, including a fifth-place finish and fastest lap at Donington Park.
2023: Competed in F1 Academy with Rodin Carlin, finishing 13th overall with best finishes of fifth place at Monza and Red Bull Ring.

INSPIRATIONS

Gilkes grew up surrounded by motorsport history—not just watching it on TV, but hearing stories from her grandfather and father about their own racing experiences. That kind of firsthand family legacy doesn’t just inspire; it sets expectations. She also raced alongside Zane Maloney during her karting days in Barbados, watching him progress to F2 while she carved her own path. Her mantra? “Focus on your strengths and ignore your weaknesses”—a philosophy that served her well both on track and in the classroom.

REPUTATION

Gilkes earned a reputation as a smart, strategic driver who could deliver when it mattered. In GB4, she was one of only a handful of drivers to complete the entire 2022 championship, consistently finishing in the points and setting fastest laps. Her ability to recover from setbacks—whether it was a broken wrist from a crash or starting from the back of the pack—made her a driver teams and fans respected.

Off track, she became known for something even rarer: actually using her engineering degree. While many drivers talk about having backup plans, she built one in real time, working with two of the most prestigious F1 teams while still racing professionally. By the time she announced her retirement in 2023 after the Circuit of the Americas season finale, it wasn’t a defeat—it was a calculated career move. She wasn’t stepping away from motorsport; she was stepping into it differently, joining Aston Martin F1 Team as a trainee performance engineer.

Her perspective as both driver and engineer made her invaluable. During Luke Browning’s test day in an F1 car, she was on the pit wall, offering insights that only someone who’d been in the cockpit—and understood the data—could provide. She even worked engineering duties with fellow W Series alumna Jessica Edgar, bringing things full circle.

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

As of now, Gilkes is focused on her engineering career with Aston Martin F1 Team, working part-time with their testing programme while completing her commitments. She’s become an advocate for the next generation of female racers, mentoring through Voice In Sport and speaking openly about the challenges women face in motorsport—particularly the lack of representation. Her goal isn’t just to succeed herself, but to make sure the girls coming up behind her have a clearer path than she did. Whether she’ll return to racing in any capacity remains to be seen, but for now, she’s rewriting what it means to have a career in motorsport—and proving you don’t need to be in the car to be in the fight.