Ken Miles

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GT40 Mk II front. Miles' car that won the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, giving Ford its first victory in a 24 hour race. (Serial Number GT-40 P 1015 Mk. II)

GT40 Mk II rear

Ken Miles (born 1 November 1918 in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham - died 17 August 1966 in Riverside, California) was a sports car driver.

1 Background
2 Career
3 Test driver/car developer
4 Death
5 Award
6 External link

[edit] Background

Miles raced motorcycles before he served as a tank sergeant in the British Army in World War II.

[edit] Career

After the war he raced Bugatti, Alfa Romeo and Alvis with the Vintage Sports Car Club. He then turned to a Ford V-8 Frazer-Nash.

He moved to the State of California in the United States in 1952.

In 1953 he won 14 straight victories in an MG Special.

In 1966 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona (pictured) with Lloyd Ruby, and the 12 Hours of Sebring in a Ford GT40. Miles was leading at the end of the 24 hours of Le Mans that year, when the Ford team, desiring a publicity photo of the three GT40s crossing the finish line together, ordered him to slow down until he was only leading the second place car, driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, by half a car length at the checkered flag. Unknown to Ford, 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, became the official winner. Miles was thus denied the unique achievement of winning Sebring, Daytona, and Le Mans in the same year.

[edit] Test driver/car developer

His early career got Carroll Shelby'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 and the Mustang GT350.

[edit] Death

Miles was testing the J-car on 17 August 1966 at the Riverside International Raceway when the car suddenly looped, flipped and crashed. As a result, the aerodynamics of the J-car were heavily modified to reduce lift, and the car was renamed the GT-40 Mk IV, which went on to great success.