354 replies to this topic

[Hse289]

Hi can anyone share any stories or info about Ken Miles driving the M.G. EX179 in 1954. He drove many different types of car besides cobras and gt40s and im very interested in all aspects of his career. Did anyone on this forum meet him? Thanks Paul

[Ray Bell]

I can't remember if I met him... but I saw him race and hung around his pit...

I should be able to post a photo, but the wrong hard drive is in the cradle. Maybe later...

[Hse289]

Does anyone have a picture of Ken Miles actually racing a Shelby King Cobra they can post here. I believe he only drove one a few times. USRRC Pensacola FL . May 4, 1964 ,DNF
Players 200 Mosport June 6, 1964 ,Practice only
USRRC Watkins Glen NY June 28, 1964, Practice only
USRRC Mid Ohio August 30, 1964, 4th overall
I,ve got the Dave Friedman books and there are none in there. Paul

[Don Capps]

Unless I am seriously mistaken, there should be photos of Miles in the King Cobra in Sports Car Graphic. I can take a look and see what I can find later on today.

[Hse289]

Thanks Don, i would appreciate that.

[wildman]

I found these shots in the July '64 issue of SCG, from Pensacola:




The second shot was the Shelby crew's way of chiding Miles for smacking a tree at Sebring that year.

[Don Capps]

Ditto. That all I could scout up as well. I also checked Sports Car and the only picture of Miles was a portrait shot at Mid-Ohio. Nothing in Competiton Press either. Nor anything in the Usual Sources. Gee, this has got me scratching my head. I will have to defer to The Master of the IMRRC, Bill Greene, and ask him when I see him next weekend. I rarely come so empty-handed.....

It would be nice to find one of Miles actually in the car....

[Hse289]

Thanks guys i appreciate that, great pictures i will look out for that issue. The cobra he crashed at sebring was the 427 prototype, it was fixed and someone then nick named him Teddy Treebagger. Apparently he had managed to hit the only tree at the circuit. Getting back to the King Cobras there are only two left in the world and a one off called the Lang Cooper(Special bodied private customer King Cobra). I nearly saw one at the Goodwood Festival of speed in 1997, but it was covered up , i waited and waited but the weather was really bad and the new owner did,nt want to take the cover off. I understand that but i was gutted. That year was the best ever F.O.S. for me as there were 5 significant Cobras there including the "Fliptop".

[D-Type]

Can somebody please refresh my memory. What was a King Cobra?

[WDH74]

D-Type- the King Cobra was a large, mid engined job, I believe. Rather like an early Can-Am car, running Cobra based running gear. Bit of a handful, if I remember what I read, but I could be making it all up too!
-William

[David McKinney]

A Cooper Monaco with a Ford V8 engine in the back in place of the normal four-cylinder Climax

[Hse289]

Carroll Shelbys team raced the King Cobras in the U.S.R.R.C. series in 63 & 64. They were very successful for a while racing against cars like Jim Halls early Chapparal and Roger Penske in his Zerex special. Dave Macdonald won at Riversides L.A. Times G.P. 1963 and Parnelli Jones won the following year. The King Cobra was a Cooper Monaco type 61M. It used the COBRA 289 engine mated to a Mckee gearbox. One King Cobra was even prepared for the Targa Florio in 1964 but was never sent, imagine that.

[Hse289]

I,ve seen a picture of Ken Miles at Goodwood 1963 (in Trevor Legates book on cobras) with a cobra which is being scrutineered. Unfortunately it failed because of eligibilty of steering and suspension parts not being correct. Did Ken Miles get to drive a Cobra in his home country?

[Ray Bell]

Because your thread looks lonely without any response (and I don't know the answer...)...

I have, however, this picture that might keep you warm till someone who knows brings you a better response:



At least it's in the Commonwealth...

[Hse289]

Thanks, i never get tired of seeing pictures of Cobras.

[Ray Bell]

Well, if I'd known that...



...Ken Miles at play, 24.11.65.

[Hse289]

I,ve seen a picture of Ken Miles standing next to a stock car in the tribute to him in R & T NOVEMBER 1966. The car had Fred Lorenzen on the side . Did he race this car, any info please guys.

[WDH74]

Nice pictures! Where were those taken (I too like seeing action pics of old Cobras. Well, old racing cars in general!)
-William

[O Volante]

Very much OT - but possibly useful: You had a look on the Talbot/US Libre races thread, Hse289???

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by WDH74
Nice pictures! Where were those taken (I too like seeing action pics of old Cobras. Well, old racing cars in general!)

At Lakeside's Australian Tourist Trophy meeting in November, 1965...

Here's the start of the race:



Actually, it's the second qualifying heat prior to the main race...

[Roger Clark]

Originally posted by Hse289
I,ve seen a picture of Ken Miles at Goodwood 1963 (in Trevor Legates book on cobras) with a cobra which is being scrutineered. Unfortunately it failed because of eligibilty of steering and suspension parts not being correct. Did Ken Miles get to drive a Cobra in his home country?

Which Goodwood meeting was this?

[Hse289]

Thanks O Volante for pointing me in the direction of U.S. Libre thread, very interesting, im learning a lot about Ken Miles lately. I recently discovered on Tams old race car site Ken Miles tested a sportscar called the Mirage built by Jack Nettercutt.
Roger , the Goodwood event that the Ken Miles Cobra failed the scrutineering was the 1963 T.T.

[WDH74]

I don't know if Ken Miles ran the car he's photographed with (probably not), but he did apparently contest a race with the Holman- Moody team about that time (it gets mentioned in the book "Holman-Moody" by Cotter & Pierce). No details in the book, other than the fact that Miles didn't do too well-he's in a list of drivers who didnt get good results in one-off drives with the team. Fred Lorenzen was a Holman-Moody driver in NASCAR for many years, and since Holman-Moody also ran a team of GT-40s, it's not surprising that Ken Miles was photographed with one of H-M's other team cars.
-William

[Hse289]

Thanks for clearing that up WDH74.

[Roger Clark]

The TT was on August 24th.

On October 4th, Autosport reported: " Ken Miles, the British-born American driver, is competition manager for Shelby American Inc, producers of the AC Cobra, and will continue as a team driver with Bob holbert and Dave MacDonald next year. Ken was recently in this country "sorting" one of Willment's AC Cobras, but it unfortunately crashed at Brands Hatch, and Bob Olthoff was forced to pilot an "unsorted" Cobra at Snetterton last Sunday". The same issue contains a reprt of the Bridgehampton "Double 500" in which Miles came second.

I can't find any record in Autosport of Ken Miles racing a Cobra in this country, and given the chronology above, it's unlkely that he did.

[Hse289]

OKay Roger thanks for your help.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by Hse289
I,ve seen a picture of Ken Miles standing next to a stock car in the tribute to him in R & T NOVEMBER 1966. The car had Fred Lorenzen on the side . Did he race this car, any info please guys.

Ken Miles started 10th and finished 11th in a 1963 Ford numbered 281 (#281, hmmm) in the season closing NASCAR GN "Golden State 400" at Riverside International Raceway on November 3, 1963. He was running at the finish, 9 laps down.

No entrant listed in Greg Fielden's book, but the #281 certainly seems like a 2nd H-M entry.



Jim Thurman

[Joe Fan]

Originally posted by Jim Thurman


No entrant listed in Greg Fielden's book, but the #281 certainly seems like a 2nd H-M entry.


Jim Thurman

It was a Holman-Moody entry and that race was his one and only start in a NASCAR Winston Cup (then called Grand National) event.

[Hse289]

Thanks again, KM certainly drove a variety of cars. I also learned recently ,can,t remember where that he helped coach Ricardo Rodrigues in his early days.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by Joe Fan


It was a Holman-Moody entry and that race was his one and only start in a NASCAR Winston Cup (then called Grand National) event.

Joe,

Was that from the Holman-Moody book?

Thanks for an absolute confirmation. Even though Fielden didn't have an entrant listed, I definitely felt it safe to assume just from the number alone (#281).


Jim Thurman

[Joe Fan]

Originally posted by Jim Thurman


Joe,

Was that from the Holman-Moody book?

Thanks for an absolute confirmation. Even though Fielden didn't have an entrant listed, I definitely felt it safe to assume just from the number alone (#281).


Jim Thurman

Jim, I have the Holman-Moody book but I found this info in The Stock Car Racing Encyclopedia which Fielden served as an editor.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by Joe Fan


Jim, I have the Holman-Moody book but I found this info in The Stock Car Racing Encyclopedia which Fielden served as an editor.

Ahh, ok...should have checked there. Thanks.

Fielden found a lot more info between the time of "40 Years of Stock Car Racing" and the Encyclopedia.

I'm interested in seeing how much he & Golenbock managed to add for the new edition of the Encyclopedia. I was going to send in a bunch of info on West Coast drivers, but wasn't able to do it before the revised edition.


Jim Thurman

[Frank S]

No Cobra photos, but among the scans on this FotoTime page the first three are Shelby items you have probably seen:

Shelby-related pins

I have no idea where they were handed out, nor to whom, nor do I know what, precisely, to call them, other than "pins". I scavenged them off eBay.


Frank S

[Joe Fan]

BTW, did anyone read the Brock Yates article in Car and Driver several months back about the guy in Wisconsin who says he is THE Ken Miles. Apparently the guy claims that he wasn't killed in the GT40 crash, just badly injured and that Ford paid him to fake his death because they didn't want a mangled driver casting a continual negative image on their name. The guy sort of looked like Ken Miles but it is most certainly a tall one. However, you have to wonder why someone would claim that they were Ken Miles. He was a very underrated sports car driver but not anybody who someone could cash in on like Elvis.

BTW, here is a link to the article: http://www.caranddri...4&page_number=1

[Hse289]

In my opinion the whole story is disgusting, i suppose magazines must report so called (news) but there is families to consider . They must have been upset and angry when they read that.

[Hse289]

I,ve got to ask this. Did anyone on TNF know Ken Miles and have any stories they would like to share. Does anyone know his son?

[Lotus23]

Hse289, I'm old enough to have known him, but I never met him; the closest I ever came was seeing him drive.

I'd be quite surprised if you draw a blank on your query, however: I think some of the Senior Members of this forum have been around long enough to have shaken hands with Barney Oldfield!

[Hse289]

All of the books on Cobras and GT40s , + 50s specials that i,ve read, Ken Miles has become a bit of a racing hero to me.

[Ray Bell]

That kind of sticks out a little, PDH...

If it comes down to being near him in the pits etc, I was there at Lakeside in 1965... you've seen the pics I've posted before. I probably spoke to him, but I simply don't remember. In the congenial atmosphere of Lakeside you always got to talk to the drivers...

Then again, I took some nice portrait shots at the end of the day and he isn't among them.

[Hse289]

Hi , does anyone know what was Ken Miles last race. Was it Le Mans 66 or did he race again, i think i read somewhere he was racing Porsches as well in 66 before he died.?

[Hse289]

Does anyone know the answer to this question?

[Hse289]

On this day August 17th 1966 Ken Miles died in a tragic testing accident in the Ford J car.
Did any of our more mature members know him or see him race?

[Lotus23]

I'm not sure I'm terribly anxious to respond to a call to "more mature members", but yes, I did see him run in the early/mid sixties. I can't recall ever meeting him, though.

I can recall poring over articles about his Flying Shingle in the early U.S. motor magazines of the day (primarily Road & Track).

I'm sure there are MANY members more "mature" than I who can fill you in on his earlier exploits!

[Hse289]

Hi, does anyone have a picture of Ken Miles driving a Cobra in practice at Goodwood . The event was the T.T.He never got to race it there because of a scrutineering problem.

[Hse289]

Yes another Ken Miles question, has anyone got any sound recordings with Ken Miles in interview please?

[Hse289]

Just wondering was there a Ken Miles fan club in the 60s?

[Ray Bell]

I have no idea if there was, but a lot of people enjoyed this sight in November, 1965...

Edited by Ray Bell, 12 December 2019 - 21:42.

[Paul Newby]

Go on Ray, you know you want to...

For those who weren't around at the time (like me) or don't have access to original sources, tell us the story as to how Ken Miles and a 427 Cobra ventured down to Australia to compete at Lakeside (in the Australian Tourist Trophy??)

There really has been very little written over the years about this significant Anglo-American driver.

[Ray Bell]

I think I posted these before...



...at play during practice... and then there's the loss of the car that had the event won once Matich crashed the Lotus 19B five months earlier...

http://forum.racesim...chmentid=124416

...and the start of that fateful (for Gardner) heat...

http://forum.racesim...chmentid=124415

I've posted this little story before, why rewrite it?

http://forums.atlasf...=&postid=864746



.

Edited by Ray Bell, 12 December 2019 - 21:44.

[Vitesse2]

Not directly related to this thread, but Hse289 (and any other Cobra fans) might like to know there's an article on the development of the Ace into the Cobra in the December issue of Octane.