Ken Miles (Born 1 November 1918 in Sutton Coldfield

Sutton Coldfield

Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...

 near Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England – Died 17 August 1966 in Riverside, California

Riverside, California

Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...

, United States) was a sports car racing

Sports car racing

Sports car racing is a form of circuit auto racing with automobiles that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built or related to road-going sports cars....

 engineer and driver best known for his career in the USA and with American teams on the international scene.

Background

Miles raced motorcycles before he served as a tank sergeant

Sergeant

Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

 in the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Career

After the war he raced Bugatti

Bugatti

Automobiles E. Bugatti was a French car manufacturer founded in 1909 in Molsheim, Alsace, as a manufacturer of high-performance automobiles by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti....

, Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo in motorsport

During its history, Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries and private...

 and Alvis

Alvis

Alvis may refer to:*Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd, British luxury car and military vehicle manufacturer which later became Alvis plc*Alvis plc , a Defence contractor which acquired Alvis Cars and became the UK's largest armoured vehicle manufacturer*Alvis, a family surname in the United...

 with the Vintage Sports Car Club. He then turned to a Ford V-8 Frazer-Nash.

Ken then moved from England to the Los Angeles, California area. In 1953 he won 14 straight victories in SCCA racing in an MG based special of his own design and construction.

For the 1955 season, he designed, constructed, and campaigned a second special based on MG components that was known as the "Flying Shingle". It was very successful in the SCCA F modified class on the west coast.

For the 1957 season (in cooperation with Otto Zipper), Ken engineered the installation of a Porsche 550S engine and transmission in a '56 Cooper chassis and body. (It was the second successful race car to be known on the West Coast as "the Pooper". The first "Pooper" was an early 50s Cooper chassis and body powered by a Porsche 356 power train that was built and campaigned by Pete Lovely of Tacoma, WA.) The resulting car dominated the F Modified class of SCCA on the west coast in the '57 and '58 seasons with Ken driving.

Because of his great skill/talent both as a driver and as a mechanic/engineer, Ken was a key member of the Shelby/Cobra race team in the early 60's. He was affectionately known by his American racing crew as "Teddy Teabag" (for his tea drinking) or "Sidebite" (as he talked out of the side of his mouth.)

In 1966 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona

24 Hours of Daytona

The 24 Hours of Daytona, currently known as the Rolex 24 Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on a combined road course, utilizing portions of the NASCAR tri-oval and an infield...

 (pictured) with Lloyd Ruby

Lloyd Ruby

Lloyd Ruby was an American racecar driver.Ruby raced in the USAC Championship Car series in the 1958-1977 seasons, with 177 career starts, including every Indianapolis 500 race during 1960-1977. He finished in the top ten 88 times, with 7 victories. His best Indy finish was 3rd in 1964...

, and the 12 Hours of Sebring

12 Hours of Sebring

The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, a former Army Air Force base in Sebring, Florida...

 in the Ford GT40

Ford GT40

The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969...

. Miles was leading at the end of the '66 24 hours of Le Mans

24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...

, when Ford management, desiring a publicity photo of the three GT40s crossing the finish line together, ordered him to slow down to cross the line together with the second place car, driven by Bruce McLaren

Bruce McLaren

Bruce Leslie McLaren , born in Auckland, New Zealand, was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor....

 and Chris Amon

Chris Amon

Christopher Arthur Amon MBE is a former motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One - racing in the 1960s and 1970s - and is widely regarded to be one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand Prix...

. However, the scoring system at Le Mans takes into account the differing distances covered by the cars due to differing positions on the starting grid, and so the McLaren-Amon car, having started further back, would, in the event of a dead-heat, have been the official winner. Bitter at this perceived slight by his employers, after his considerable commitment to the Ford racing program, Miles issued a form of protest by slowing to allow McLaren ahead to win. Miles was thus denied the unique achievement of winning Sebring, Daytona, and Le Mans in the same year.

Test driver/car developer

His early career got Carroll Shelby

Carroll Shelby

Carroll Hall Shelby is an American retired automotive designer and racing driver. He is most well known for making Mustangs for Ford Motor Company known as Mustang Cobras which he has done since 1965...

's attention, who hired Miles as a test driver in the early 1960s. Miles helped Shelby with developing the Shelby Cobra. He also is credited with helping Shelby develop the GT40

Ford GT40

The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969...

 and the Mustang

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...

 GT350.

Death

Miles was testing the Ford J-car on 17 August 1966 at Riverside International Raceway

Riverside International Raceway

Riverside International Raceway was a race track or road course in Riverside, California. The track was in operation from September 22, 1957, to July 2, 1989...

. The J-car featured a breadvan-shaped rear section that experimented with kammback aerodynamic theories, but the design remained unproven with high-speed prototype sports cars. The car was approaching the end of the track's 1 miles (1.6 km), downhill back straightaway at top speed when the car suddenly looped, flipped, crashed and caught fire. The car broke into pieces and ejected Miles, killing him instantly. As a result, the aerodynamics of the J-car were heavily modified to correct the rear-end lift generated at race speeds. Ford officials, under pressure after the second of two fatal accidents in the program in a span of five months, also ordered a NASCAR-style steel tube rollover cage to be installed in future versions of the car. The significantly revised car, renamed the GT-40 Mk IV, won the only two races in which it was entered—the 1967 Sebring (Fla.) 12 Hours, and the 1967 24 Hours of LeMans.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	WDC	Points
1961 1961 Formula One season The 1961 Formula One season was the 12th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, which were contested concurrently from May 14 to October 8 over an eight race series...	Louise Bryden-Brown	Lotus Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...  18 Lotus 18 The Lotus 18 was a race car designed by Colin Chapman for use by Lotus in Formula Junior, Formula Two, and Formula One. It was the first mid-engined car built by Lotus and was a marked improvement over Chapman's early and only moderately successful front-engined formula cars, the 12 and 16. It was...	Climax Coventry Climax Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, and speciality engine manufacturer.-History:The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was relocated to Paynes Lane, Coventry, and renamed to Coventry-Simplex by H...  Straight-4 Straight-4 The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....	MON 1961 Monaco Grand Prix The 1961 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on May 14, 1961 on the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was the first round of the 1961 World Championship of Drivers, and the first World Championship race under the new 1.5 litre engine regulations.- Qualifying :The erratic...	NED 1961 Dutch Grand Prix The 1961 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 22 May 1961 at Zandvoort.Taking place one week after the Monaco GP there was not time for Innes Ireland to heal from his injury in the previous race so he was replaced by Trevor Taylor. The front row was taken up by three Ferraris. Von Trips...	BEL 1961 Belgian Grand Prix The 1961 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 18 June 1961 at Spa-Francorchamps.The organizers of the race invited 25 entries, but were only going to pay starting money to 19: sixteen pre-selected cars plus the 3 fastest of the remaining 9. Three of the cars without starting money...	FRA 1961 French Grand Prix The 1961 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 2 July 1961 at Reims-Gueux.By winning the race, Giancarlo Baghetti became only the third driver to win his first World Championship race, the other two being Nino Farina, who won the first World Championship race and Johnnie Parsons, who...	GBR 1961 British Grand Prix The 1961 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on 15 July 1961 at the Aintree Circuit, near Liverpool. It was the fifth race of eight in the 1961 World Championship season...	GER 1961 German Grand Prix The 1961 German Grand Prix was the 23rd time the German Grand Prix motor race was held. The race also held the honorary designation of the 21st European Grand Prix. It was run to Formula One regulations as the sixth round of the 1961 World Drivers' Championship on 6 August 1961...	ITA 1961 Italian Grand Prix The 1961 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 10 September 1961 at Monza.The race was marked by one of the most terrible accidents in the history of Formula One, when on the end of lap 2 at the approach to the Parabolica the German driver Wolfgang von Trips lost control of his Ferrari...	USA 1961 United States Grand Prix The 1961 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 8, 1961 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York.... DNA	NC	0