We know it must be true – it was part of the storyline in a ‘fact-based’ Hollywood movie. Shelby Ford driver Ken Miles was effectively cheated of victory at Le Mans ’66, you know, when the staged formation finish between the three leading Ford GT Mark II cars failed to allow adequately for the starting-echelon space between them – and so Bruce McLaren/Chris Amon were awarded the win instead of British-born Miles and his Kiwi co-driver, Denny Hulme.
Now while Denny’s naturally retiring, reticent nature would have prevented him airing much disquiet, often acerbic Ken Miles was famously never backward in coming forward, especially with an opinion.
Born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, in 1918, he had grown up as a combative kid. He left school at 15, beginning an apprenticeship with Wolseley Motors. He soon developed an interest in motor sport, racing motorcycles before – as World War II broke out – becoming a Territorial Army driving instructor. He was a founding recruit to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, saw home service on tanks with the Guards Armoured Brigade, and was then part of the D-Day operation in Normandy, on active service in the face of a determined – and desperate – enemy.
“The telling of the Ford vs Ferrari story can be viewed as a filmic invention”
He was promoted eventually to Staff Sergeant, commanding a tank with the 15th/19th Royal Hussars. Back in civilian life immediately postwar he drove his first few motor races in Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Alvis and Frazer Nash cars. From childhood he’d hankered after an eventual new life in America, and in 1952 he made the move, settling in Los Angeles as a manager with MG sports car importer Gough Industries. In the mid-1950s he carved a considerable reputation for himself both as engineer and driver, building and racing a series of MG variants, up to and including his low-slung – and seriously rapid – Miles-MG ‘Flying Shingle’.
Through 1956 Miles drove Porsche 550 Spyders for Californian agent Johnny von Neumann in Cal Club and SCCA events. He developed a quite formidable reputation for himself as a loudly opinionated player in club politics. Ferrari’s 1961 World Champion driver Phil Hill used to recall Ken’s campaigning capabilities upon the Californian racing scene. “He used to speak with this very pronounced Midland English accent but what made him unique was the way he spoke, out one side of his mouth. I don’t know if that was the result of an injury, but it was certainly distinctive. Someone nicknamed him ‘Sidebite’…and it stuck” – considered by many associates to be even more apt than the mildly Anglophobic alternative (based upon his VERY English tea-drinking habit) of ‘Teddy Tea-Bag’. While one nickname perhaps sounds too harsh, the other sounds way too cuddly…
Miles realised that for Neumann’s Porsche interest to remain competitive into 1957 the sophisticated 550 engine needed a more agile and nimble ’sprint race’ chassis. In Californian racing there was no need for Porsche-style Le Mans 24 Hours reliability. Surviving barely an hour’s circuit racing would suffice.
Another emerging local star, Pete Lovely, had been racing a streamline-bodied Cooper former record-breaker powered by a flat-four Porsche unit. Famous as ‘The Pooper’, it would be joined through 1957-58 by a Ken Miles Cooper-Porsche which dominated Class F-Modified honours. He continued to race Porsches up to model RSK into 1961. Through 1962 he had multiple outings in Ferrari 250 GTs… and a Sunbeam Alpine.
His common sense, experience and mechanical knowledge was legend. He was respected both as an engineer and a properly wired-up racing driver. When Carroll Shelby launched his AC Cobra project for 1963, Ken Miles was an early invitee. With Cobra came Ford, and Ken joined Phil Hill as prime players in the 1964-66 Ford GT programme.
In 1965 he scored a landmark win with Lloyd Ruby co-driving a Ford GT40 in the Daytona 2000Kms race. The following year saw him with the notably taciturn Ruby again share Ford GT victory – this time with 7-litre Mark IIs – at Daytona and the Sebring 12 Hours.
