Vincent Quick

Quick before the 2023 North American Formula C season

Hope, British Columbia, Canada

**Vincent Daniel Miles-Quick** (13th February 2004 - 3rd February 2025) was a Canadian racing driver currently inactive. His last season was in the 2024 Formula B World Championship where he finished 13th place, and scored a feature race win. He remains the only black driver to have competed in the WMA Global Motorsport Path as high as Formula B, and the only black driver to have won a WMA World Championship sanctioned event as well. His previous success include championship triumph and glory in the Canadian Formula Ford series, Formula Atlantic series, the African Formula 5 series, the African Formula 4 series and the Brazilian Junior Stockcars and becoming the youngest ever driver to compete in the Brazilian Stockcar Series.

## Early Life

Quick was born on 13th February 2004 in Hope, British Columbia, Canada. His father, Marcus Miles Jr, is Black Canadian and is of South African descent, while his mother, Claire-Valentina Quick is also a Black Canadian and is of Jamaican descent. Miles Jr was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada whereas Claire-Valentina Quick was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. They eventually married when Quick was 3 years old and he grew up as the sole child in the household. Quick was raised as a Catholic.

In his young age, Quick expressed his desire to compete in Bobsleigh, given the nature of the province, it didn’t take long for him to have his first experience of the sport at the age of 12, however despite promising success in the Whistler Junior Championships, he couldn’t find further sponsorships for his favourite sport and eventually quit at the age of 15 to complete further his progression in motorsports, he later stated that he didn’t have regrets later as he discovered motorsports became his new favourite passion and he would not have experienced it without the hardships and complete withdrawal from it.

## Career

### Karting

Encouraged by his father, who was a huge motorsport fan and didn’t get the opportunity himself due to a hard upbringing, Quick first discovered karting at the age of 11 where he set lap records of multiple indoor track records throughout the Southwestern provinces, a key to this was in part to his impressive body weight at the time and a special steering and braking technique obtained from research. It didn’t take long until his talents were recognised by a Canadian conglomerate company, he took part in his first outdoor karting experience for the British Columbia Junior Karting Series which he placed 5th at the age of 12,

After getting used to higher end karts, he won the series the very next year and came 2nd in the Canadian Karting Championship on his age bracket, an impressive feat for such a rushed introduction in motorsports. During the winter months of the series comes to a close, he saw his marketability rise due to his calm yet cheerful personality and his racial background; Canada had yet to produce a talented black driver for any notable motorsport series at the time, with the funding he secured at the end of the CKC and private testing for his first experience into the Formula Class, Vincent was signed and entered into Canada’s next step of open-wheel motorsport.

### Canadian Formula Ford Series

Despite his even more rushed progression to the Formula Ford series, he made up from his lack of experience with a sudden discovery; sim-racing, his practice in various platforms in regards to the series’ calendar helped Vincent master the track fast and what looked to be an embarrassment for Quick in the start of the season, scoring only once in the first three seasons. He preserved and climbed back up the order, now as a challenging front runner, his efforts paid off in the Montreal round where he announced himself onto the North American scene by overtaking 11 times and setting the fastest lap to winning the race by half a lap. After Montreal; his race victories in Edmonton, Mosport and Abootsford saw Quick into an outside picture for title contention in his debut season, however a pileup on lap 12 involving multiple drivers saw his chances diminished, despite an impressive second-half performance, his lack of experience in the first few costed him dearly however it was a strong sign of things to come from the Canadian; after quitting his second sport if bobsleigh due to a lack of funding. A 15-year-old Quick saw an opportunity arise with his father’s backing…

### South African Formula Vee Series

With a growing motorsport presence, Quick controversially jumped on the opportunity to race for his ancestral continent, sharing his racing duties with the Formula Atlantic Championship. The series proved too dominant for the Canadian, winning in all but one of the 6 races on the calendar, a dominant display which he comfortably won the series’ first ever drivers championship. His funding got further secured by the South African countries however, due to the growing popularity of motorsport in Africa, Vincent was seen by the Africans as potentially the first megastar in motorsports. His embracement of such words earned him a mass following in the continent as well. Despite the display, he vowed to return again later in his career.

### Formula Atlantic Championship

While sharing his South African motorsport series duties, Quick took a step up in his national motorsport series into the infamous Formula-Atlantic Championship, it’s the first time he has raced in America, a 5-race-calendar series all in America, he was not extremely popular at first with the American crowd, however once again, it seemed Vincent was in a series that still didn’t challenge him. After a tyre failure in Road Atlanta, Quick would maintain a podium finish in the remaining races including a race(s) win in Road America and a perfect weekend of Pole, Fastest Lap and both Race Win at Summit Point. The 15-year-old eventually got to the hearts of the American public with his engagement of their motorsport culture, as seen attending North American Formula Series and NSCC races and was in talks with various driver programs for those series respectively; which came to the sudden realisation for his goal for the International Open-Wheel Series of Formula A.

### Brazilian Formula 4 Series

The 16-year-old entered in the Brazilian motorsport scene due to its cost-effectiveness and for further potential sponsorship backing to his career, his first experience in Formula 4 machinery,

### Formula C appearances

Quick’s appearance in WMA’s Formula C came when he was announced as a short-term replacement for German driver, Anton Schmidt after he was awarded a two race penalty for multiple violations over the course of the season. Quick drove for the Imola and Spa-Francorchamps round. His Imola round was proven to be successful even though he was highly unfamiliar with the machinery and had little time to get comfortable, despite starting 19th out of 26th. He managed to finish in 12th in the feature race before a better result in the sprint race in 11th. In Belgium, Quick was much more comfortable with the car and managed to push hard, he qualified in a best 13th, however in the feature race, Quick nearly suffered a catastrophic crash at Eau Rouge due to a minor collision with British driver; Allen McCorrie. Both remained unscathed and continue racing, which costed Vincent dearly in P18. He wasn’t deterred and preserved much greatly in the sprint race in Spa to finish a best ever result for the Canadian in 9th. Due to the driver commitments and team nature. Vincent wasn’t able to secure a seat from any Formula C teams in the time being however his European experience and communications with FMA aligned teams, drivers and personnel allowed him to continue further with his hopes of Formula A still strong despite the short Formula C experience.

### North American Formula C Championship

Quick suffered a major qualifying crash at NOLA after a collision with American driver Noam Hutchinson, Quick was setting a fast lap until Noam failed to move out of the racing line in time while he was preparing for his fast lap. Quick collided with the rear wheel of Hutchinson which saw Quick’s car crash and fly over the car before crashing hard into the wall near Turn 14. It ruled Vincent out for the next two races due to a broken arm, hand, torn pectoral muscle and spatial disorientation. Quick eventually recovered and made for his return with 3 race wins throughout the remaining 7 races to settle for 3rd in the Drivers Championship. The crash and injury was citied as a change in regards to Quick, showing despite his calm personality, he took a lot more risks to earn those race wins. Despite the crash, Quick still expresses frustration how he never manage to win the Championship.