Behind the Success, Beyond the Spotlight

Ken Miles

1 November 1918 - 17 August 1966

THE MAN BEHIND THE SUCCESS of the Ford GT in its historic string of victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Kenneth Henry Miles was always on the fast side of the car. Leaving school early, he worked his way through an apprenticeship to technical school and began racing motorcycles before serving in World War II, following which he raced cars before moving from England and settling in the USA as a service manager in 1952.

In 1953, he won 14 straight victories in SCCA racing in an MG-based special of his own design and construction. In 1955, Miles designed, constructed, and ran another special based on MG components, known as the “Flying Shingle”, which was very successful in the “SCCA F modified” class on the US west coast. In 1957, together with Otto Zipper, Miles engineered a Porsche 550S engine and transmission into a Cooper, one that came to be known as “the Pooper”.