I've always heard Ken Miles name associated with the Flying Shingle and
Porsches. Then later I learned he raced Alpines too. It has always struck
me as odd that he raced Alpines. I mean, how does someone go from driving
the hottest ever mid-engined Porsche Spyders to racing Alpines? In
flipping through those old magazines I mentioned, I found an article on Ken
Miles in the October 1963 Road & Track. Here is some of the stuff it said.
He always liked racing, and started racing his own cars - probably like
most. In 1946, he bought his first sports car, an old Frazer-Nash and
installed a Ford V-8 (hmm, or should I say, grrrr). Later, while he worked
as a service manager for an MG distributor in California, he raced MG's,
including his special "No. 50" based on an MG TD, then the MG TF based
"Flying Shingle". After racing an MGA in the 1954 Le Mans, finishing 12th
overall, he and the general manager of the MG distributor had a falling
out. As Miles put it, "he decided he wanted to run my service department,
and I decided to let him." Miles left and went to work for a Porsche-VW
dealer in Hollywood, John von Neumann. Through von Neumann, Miles raced a
Porsche 550 Spyder and started winning all up and down California. He also
raced the infamous "Pooper", which was a Cooper powered by a Porsche.
After a couple years, von Neuman retired from racing and Miles switched to
Otto Zipper for racing. He raced Porsches for Zipper as well. During
1959-1960, he raced Zipper's Porsche RSK's and an RS-60, without ever
losing, according to Miles. In 1961, he raced a Porsche RS-61 to more
success, and something called a Dolphin Jr., including one powered by a
Porsche.
That is when he started racing the Alpines. The article says "also in
1961, in a factory-assisted program, Ken campaigned a Sunbeam Alpine in
production car racing, finishing second (surrounded by Porsches) in the
Pacific Cost Championship's class FP." Note the key words
"factory-assisted". This is the first time they used this term in the
article. This is only conjecture here. But, it seems to me that must be
synonymous with "money". Sure von Neumann and Zipper gave him a ride, and
he ran his own cars before that. However, he was not racing for Porsche,
only in Porsches. So, when all was said and done, he also had to make
money. I doubt the prize money that he didn't have to give to von Neumann
or Zipper (who paid for the cars) was going to keep him and his family fed,
clothed and housed. So what is he going to say if a company comes along
and offers him cash and a maintained car to race? I know what I'd say.
The article then finishes mentioning that now, in 1963, he is running his
own garage in Hollywood and racing as one of Carroll Shelby's team drivers,
racing Cobras, also winning (we all know what that association lead to --
note also that Miles had his own history of preparing "specials", with his
Frasier-Nash, No. 50, the Flying Shingle, the Pooper, and the Dolphin;
actually it probably is incorrect to attribute his affiliation with Shelby
as leading to the Tiger, since, if I recall correctly, it was his
affiliation with Ian Garrard that started his involvement with Tiger #1, as
opposed to Shelby's Tiger #2). Lastly, he mentions that other companies,
including Porsche, have made offers to race for them.
Well, that is where the article ends. I have all sorts of other
information about the Porsches mentioned from my Porsche side. But, that
doesn't really belong here. I also do not have my other Sunbeam materials
handy to continue on with the Miles involvement in Alpines after 1963.
I'll see what I have later. I certainly welcome any corrections or
additions.
Jay
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