12.5 acres of land bordering Los Angeles International Airport was home to two hangars used by North American Aviation to build Sabre military jets. It's only fitting that the car meant to do battle against Ferrari would be built in the same place where freakin' jets were made! Using computers mounted inside the car and scotch tape and yarn on the outside, they found 76 horsepower was being lost due to inefficient air ducting.

By just changing the ducting, they gained 46 horsepower. Ken Miles and co-driver Lloyd Ruby drove the new and improved GT40 to victory in the 2,000-kilometer Daytona race, beating Ferrari and really pissing off Enzo. Next on the list was the 12 Hours of Sebring. Ferrari backed out of the race because, well, he didn't wanna lose again.

And Ken Miles and Bruce McLaren won the GTP class in the GT40. Yes, that Bruce McLaren. Finally, the GT40 looked capable of winning the next race on their list, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The start of the race went really well for the Ford team. Immediately, the two GT40 Mark IIs took the lead, followed by Ferrari chasing them at nearly 195 miles per hour in third place.

By 38 minutes in, they were holding a 38-second lead. Then, the transmissions began to fail in the Fords. At 8 p.m., Bruce McLaren pulled into the pit to switch driving duties with Miles. And as soon as Miles pulled out, the car shredded its transmission and lost its gears. Soon after, the other Mark II suffered a similar fate.

The race Ford desperately wanted to win wasn't gonna happen. After that defeat, Ford created their own Le Mans committee. A group of roughly 20 men met every two weeks until the next race to brainstorm ideas and solutions that would help Ford finally win Le Mans. Hank the Deuce decided the best way to ensure victory would be to divide the Le Mans effort into two separate teams.

Carroll Shelby with Ken Miles, and Holman Moody with his NASCAR team. Hey, how come these guys pit so much faster than we do? They got a goddamn NASCAR crew, that's why! The in-house competition didn't seem to faze Shelby with Miles behind the wheel.

They won the 24-hour Daytona Continental again and the 12 Hours of Sebring again, setting Miles up for the Triple Crown if he could win at Le Mans. That would make Miles the first driver ever to pull that off. The 1966 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans didn't go as smoothly as they had hoped.

The race used to begin with the driver outside of the car running across the track before hopping in and driving off. It's called a Le Mans start. But as Miles got into his seat, he slammed his helmet on the doorframe and bent it. He was forced into the pits after only one lap to fix his door, which put him in last place.

But doing what Miles did best, fought back, back to first place! With the race about to end, Miles was minutes away from scoring the Triple Crown. But just winning wasn't good enough. The GT40s were in first, second, and third. And Hank the Deuce wanted a picture of all three Fords crossing the finish line together, showing the world the dominance of the GT40 at Le Mans.

I mean, he clawed his way up from last place to get into first. And only minutes away from winning the biggest race in the world, he was told to let second place catch up. That's absurd! The guy was a hothead. He had a reputation, but he was a damn good employee.

So he slowed down to let the second and third GT40s catch up, and they all finished together. It was obvious to everyone that Miles won the race and earned his Triple Crown that day, but the Le Mans rules stated that if a race ends in a dead heat, the driver who started further back at the beginning of the race would be given the victory.

So Bruce McLaren and his teammate started eight meters, 20 feet behind Miles and his teammate. And this meant that Miles was second. Here is a clarification. Though the drivers finished the race in a heat, McLaren has been ruled the winner. The team appealed the official rules and argued that Miles should have won, but the rules are rules.

But being the good sport that, and great team player that he was, when he met up with McLaren at the pits, he grabbed him and gave him a hug. He even told reporters,

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(engine whirs)- Whoop, come on.- He's the man with the planfrom the land of Britain,a race car driver witha never quit attitude.He took on Ferrariin one of the mostfamous races of all time,a war hero that survivedthe beaches of Normandyin World War II, a smart mouth wrencherwith skills like no other on the track.He's the unsung hero of Ford'schampionship-winning Le Mans team.This is everything you needto know to get up to speedon Teddy Teabag, Mister Sidebite himself,KenMiles!(upbeat music)Guys, I wanna send a hugethanks to Ford versus Ferrarifor sponsoring this veryspecial episode of Up to Speed.If you haven't seen the movie yet,you really, really have to.It's a must see for Donut fans.The story of Ford versus Ferrariis one of the best ever in cars.I mean, we're practicallyobsessed with it.We did a four-part series on our podcast,which is like almost five hours long.We've done two episodesof Up to Speed on it.And while most people probably knowwho Carroll Shelby is by now,and probably know who HenryFord is by now, or Enzo Ferrari,it's a shame that a lot of peopleprobably don't know who Ken Miles,one of the baddest dudesin the history of cars, is.The first three minutes of this movieare some of the mostexciting three minutesthat I've ever seen in a movie.The way they shot theracing was mostly practical.A lot of the guys' sons,including Ken's son,drove in the film.So please, do yourself a favor.Get Ford versus Ferrari on digital nowand Blu-ray, February 11.I'm so stoked that studiosmake movies like this.And the only way thatthey're gonna keep makingmovies like this, moviesfor us, is if we watch them.Kenneth Henry Miles wasborn on November 1st, 1918in the Royal town ofSutton Coldfield, England.The son of Eric Miles and Clarice Jarvis,Ken was such a badass hedidn't even need a hospitalto be freakin' born in.He was birthed in the living roomof his grandfather's house.And continuing this life of being shweet,when he was 11, he beggedhis buddy to let him ridehis 350cc Triumph Trials bike.Why was an 11-year-old hanging outwith a guy who owned a motorcycle?Now the Triumph gave him the rushof going fast on the pavementand also taught him whathappens when you crash,because on his way home onenight, he hit a pile of stonesleft behind by some road mendersand wrapped his buddy'sTriumph around a light pole,breaking his 11-year-old noseand knocking out three of his teeth.Why is this 11-year-oldriding a motorcycle at night?And by time he was 15, he hadpurchased an Austin 7 saloonthat he converted into a special.That means he built it intoa two-seater Sportster.He was too young to gorace his newly beloved car,but that didn't stop him fromasking his then girlfriendand future wife, Molly to paint the carin British racing green.While Miles had a knackfor working on all things mechanical,he struggled in school.After a thwarted attemptto run away to America,the 16-year-old dropped out of schoolto take an apprenticeshipat Wolseley Motors.Now I've barely even heard of Wolseley,but apparently, they used to beone of the largestmanufacturers in England.Miles started his apprenticeship in 1934,and his first position wassweeping floors.But over time, he moved up the ladder,from a fabricator to the assembly line.During that time, he droveback and forth to workon a Velocette motorcycle.Fun fact, Velocette was a smallBritish family-owned outfitthat still holds a recordwith their single-cylinderVenom motorcycle for running 24 hoursat an average pace of100.5 miles per hour.Can you freaking,can you imagine that?And Miles rode it like a race bike.He ended up having to sellhis beloved two-wheelerafter getting his licensesuspended for speeding.Well, he was speeding, andthen he flipped off a cop.On the heels of completinghis apprenticeship,just eight weeks later,World War II broke outand Miles was shipped off to warlike many young men of his generation.Just like at Wolseley,he started his army career at the bottom.He first worked in an anti-aircraft unitbefore being transferredinto a training regimentwhere he taught soldiershow to drive army vehicles.He was then transferredinto the Royal Corpsof Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.Unlike his primary school days,he excelled in the engineering coursesand graduated with thehighest marks in his class,freakin' valedictorian of his army.His ability to understandall things mechanicaland ability to work on themled him to being placedin a tank reconnaissanceand recovery unit.Not only did he operate andrepair busted British tanks.He stormed the beaches ofNormandy in a tank on D-Day.After the war, Miles retired from the armyas a staff sergeant, wentback to Wolseley Motorsas a toolmaker, and moreimportantly, started race--(door opens)He started racin'.The car that brought him themost success on his home soilwas a Frazer Nash equippedwith a supercharged Mercury V8.Hell's bells, baby.The combination of a lightweight,all alloy British coupewith a high horsepower American enginemade it a great race car.In his first race at Silverstone,he placed second inthe over 3,000cc class.It was only one month laterthat Miles got his first taste of victoryin the Prescott Hill Climb.While working with a friendbuilding 500cc race cars,Miles was offered a jobas a service managerfor Go Industries in Southern California.Go was the main distributorfor MG and Morris cars in the western US.Their general manager had previouslyworked with Miles in Englandand knew that his skillat working on British carsmade him the perfect person for the job.So Miles accepted the positionand moved his familyout to the Golden State.Hmm.Every time I drive down PCH,I'm a little bit proud of myself.Within four months ofmoving to California,Ken started racing stateside.His first outing was at Pebble Beachin a Go-supplied MG TD Midget.He took the bone stock MGto a ninth-place finish,a feat that Road and Trackmagazine dubbed remarkable.In his off time, Miles chased perfectionby working on his own custom MG, the R1.The R1 was designed by Miles,and apart from the engine,was built using stock MG and Morris parts.The hand-rolled, all aluminum bodyand a custom 1,500cc engineputting out 83 hrsprsmade the car quite zippy for the time.With Miles behind thewheel, the R1 went on to winevery single race they enteredthat year, 10 races in all.That's a lot of winning.Miles sold the car to SyYader and went to workon his new creation, aptlynamed the R2 Shingle.Now, the Shingle was similar to the R1but with changes to thechassis design, ride height,and even the angle at whichthe engine was mounted,all things Ken engineeredto help make the car fast.The envelope body with flared fendersthat went over the front and rear wheelsmade the R2 unmistakable on the track.To promote the MG brand,the front had an MG stylegrille and headlights.It's kinda like NASCAR today.It's like not actually a FordMustang or a Toyota Supra,but it's got the badgesand the headlights.Early in the R2's career, Mileswon a race in Palm Springsonly to be disqualifiedfor having wide fenders.So he fixed the fenders in the pitsand won the consolationrace later in the day.The day after, he racedit in the under 1,500ccmain event again and beat none otherthan the rebel without acause himself, James Dean.Ken's time with Go endedafter a disagreement,so he went to work with John von Neumann,racing Porsche Spiders.Just north of San Diego wasthe Torrey Pines racetrackthat was about to beturned into a golf course,which is lame.Race cars rule.Golf carts sorta rule.The track was having one lastrace before construction beganand Miles entered with his new Porsche.In his first time in the Germansteed, he flipped the car.Luckily for him, von Neumannwas a Porsche distributor,so he was able to gethim another 550 to drive.Smart move on Neumann's partbecause during Sunday's main event,35,000 spectators watched Milespilot the German sports car to win.The closest car was 16 seconds behind it.But in those days, the topthree in the under 1,500 classwere invited to racein the over 1,500cc modified main class.As the winner of Sunday semi main,Miles finished third in the big boy classfrom the back of the pack,showing that he can racewith the best of them.The dude would race for an hour, win,take a quick breather to work on his car,then go race for another houragainst a new set of racerswith faster cars and still podium?Are you freakin' kidding me?I recorded a podcast thismorning and I'm exhausted.Ken drove a Bobtail Cooperwith a Porsche enginesoon after racing Porsche Spiders.A Cooper with a Porsche engine at the timewas called a Pooper, obviously,because it pooped out wins.The Pooper with Miles behind the wheeldominated SCCA's West CoastF class races in '57 and '58.But because Miles was racinga special for von Neumann,who was a major distributorof Porsches in the western US,the Porsche boys in Germanyhad a beef with him.They didn't like that a Porsche dealerwas sponsoring a driverwho beat factory-builtPorsches with a Cooper chassiseven if it did have aPorsche motor under the hood.And quite frankly, I seewhere they're coming from.So he left the von Neumann campto race for Bob Estes and Otto Zipper.Names back in the '50stotally freakin' slapped.James Pumphrey. (blows raspberry)Otto Zipper. (blows raspberry)Zipper bought a Porsche RSSpider off of von Neumannas a package deal with therace car he also got Miles.From '58 to '63, Miles won 38out of the 44 races he enteredin his number 50 Porsche.The '60s came aroundand Miles started hisown business adventure,opening up his own tuningshop in North Hollywoodcalled Ken Miles Limited.Now, he was an amazing mechanic,and he's obviously anamazing race car driver.But unfortunately, he wasn'ta very good businessman.And after moving theshop around three times,the IRS caught up with misterMG and locked the doors.(laid back band music)When you don't pay your taxes,the IRS finds you andthey take your stuff.Luckily for him, all thatwinning he did in the SCCAhad already caught theattention of one dudeby the name of--- My name is Carroll Shelby,and performance is my business.- So a little side note here.Miles was known to be outspokenand a bit temperamental.I can relate.And he was once banned fromthe SCCA for six monthsfor discourteous andunsportsmanlike conduct.I think that the guy just marchedto the beat of his own drum,and all these freakingjerkos couldn't handle it.But whatever he didimpressed Shelby enoughto hire him as a competition manager.And before he joined the Shelby outfit,the Cobras were not very successful.While he was never hired to be a driver,Carroll Shelby could not ignore the factthat Miles was the bestdriver on his team.Miles knew how to make the cars better.He knew how to do it himself.He was like Zach Jobe.Only a year after beinghired as competition manager,Miles became the chief testdriver for Shelby American.As Carroll Shelby describes it,Miles was the heart andsoul of the testing program.Miles helped turn the Cobrainto the legend that it is today.(engine whirs)He achieved a cult-like statusin the SoCal racing sceneas one of the most prolificprivate racers of the time,keyword, private.Regardless of the amountof talent that he had,he was never chosen by a factoryoutfit to do their racinguntil the Ford GT came around.In 1965, Shelby was taskedwith the responsibilityof building the GT 40 for Fordto beat Ferrari at Le Mans.Two years orlier,orlier?- See if you don't thinkthis is the most excitingcar in America today,the Corvette Stingray.- The Corvette was thetop sports car of the timeand Ford had nothing comparable.One way they wanted to drum up saleswas to win the most prestigious racein the history of racing, my favorite,the 24 Hours of Le Mans.The problem was Ford had zeroexperience endurance racing.At the time, Ferrari werethe kings of Le Mans,and they just happened to beon the verge of bankruptcy.Henry Ford II, aka Hank the Deuce,wanted to buy the Italian manufacturer,effectively gaining themyears of racing experiencewith one swish of a big old pen.The deal looked imminent,but in the 11th hour, Ferrari backed outand left Ford with hispants around his ankles.Hank the Deuce vowedrevenge and gave the order.- I don't care what it costs.We're gonna build a race car.- A new division was formed tobuild a car to beat Ferrari.It was called the AdvancedVehicle department.Sick.After months of grueling 12-hourdays, on April 1st, 1964,the GT40 was finally completed.The team had three GT40sready to go for the race.Ken Miles wasn't behind the wheelof any of them at this point.While GT40s were crashingand burning, Shelby's Daytonafinished fourth overalland won the GT class.At the end of the race, noneof the three GT40s had finishedwhile Ferrari finishedfirst, second and third.It was a disastrous beginningto the GT40 program.Ford noticed that Shelbywas doing pretty goodwith their Daytona coupe,and on January 27th, 1965,they announced to the worldthat they were teaming up with Shelby,not only on the buildbut also to race all ofFord's competition cars.Ford set its sights on using the GT40to win the big threeendurance races that year,the Daytona Continental 2000kilometer race in February,the 12 Hours of Sebring InMarch, and the holy grail,the mother of them all, boy,the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.Shelby got a new spaceto develop the GT40.Unlike his old two-car garage in Venice,which is right there, right over there,the new plant stretchedout over 12.5 acres of landbordering Los AngelesInternational Airport,which is right over there.The site had two hangars that were usedby North American Aviationto build Sabre military jets.It's only fitting that the carmeant to do battle againstFerrari would be builtin the same place thatfreakin' jets were made!Using computers mounted inside the carand scotch tape and yarn on the outside,they found 76 horsepower was being lostdue to inefficient air ducting.By just changing theducting, they gained--What power, baby?Where have you been?Oh, you know,doin' stuff.Ken Miles and co-driver Lloyd Rubydrove the new and improved GT40 to victoryin the 2,000-kilometer Daytona race,beating Ferrari andreally pissing off Enzo.Next on the list wasthe 12 Hours of Sebring.Ferrari backed out of the racebecause, well, he didn't wanna lose again.And Ken Miles and Bruce McLarenwon the GTP class in the GT40.Yes, that Bruce McLaren.Finally, the GT40 lookedcapable of winning the next raceon their list, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.The start of the race wentreally well for the Ford team.Immediately, the two GT40Mark IIs took the lead,followed by Ferrari chasing themat nearly 195 miles perhour in third place.By 38 minutes in, they wereholding a 38-second lead.Then, the transmissionsbegan to fail in the Fords.At 8 p.m., Bruce McLarenpulled into the pitto switch driving duties with Miles.And as soon as Miles pulled out,the car shredded itstransmission and lost its gears.Soon after, the other MarkII suffered a similar fate.The race Ford desperately wanted to winwasn't gonna happen.After that defeat, Ford createdtheir own Le Mans committee.A group of roughly 20men met every two weeksuntil the next race to brainstorm ideasand solutions that would helpFord finally win Le Mans.Hank the Deuce decided thebest way to ensure victorywould be to divide the Le Mans effortinto two separate teams,Carroll Shelby with Ken milesand Holman Moody with his NASCAR team.- Hey, how come these guyspit so much faster than we do.- They got a goddamnNASCAR crew, that's why.- The in-house competitiondidn't seem to faze Shelbywith Miles behind the wheel.They won the 24-hourDaytona Continental againand the 12 Hours of Sebring again,setting Miles up for the Triple Crownif he could win at Le Mans.That would make Miles the first driverto ever pull that off.The 1966 running ofthe 24 Hours of Le Mansdidn't go as smoothly as they had hoped.The race used to begin withthe driver outside of the carrunning across the track beforehopping in and driving off.It's called a Le Mans start.But as Miles got into his seat,he slammed his helmet onthe doorframe and bent it.He was forced into the pitsafter only one lap to fix his door,which put him in last place.But doing what miles didbest, (beep) fought back,back to first place!With the race about toend, Miles was minutes awayfrom scoring the Triple Crown.But just winning wasn't good enough.The GT40s were in first, second and third.And Hank the Deuce wanted apicture of all three Fordscrossing the finish linetogether, showing the worldthe dominance of the GT40 at Le Mans.I mean, he clawed hisway up from last placeto get into first.And only minutes away from winningthe biggest race in the world,he was told to let second place catch up.That's absurd!The guy was a hothead.He had a reputation, but hewas a damn good employee.So he slowed down to let thesecond and third GT40s catch upand they all finished together.It was obvious to everyonethat Miles won the raceand earned his Triple Crown that day,but the Le Mans rules statethat if a race ends in a dead heat,the driver who started further backat the beginning of the racewill be given the victory.So Bruce McLaren and histeammate started eight meters,20 feet behind Miles and his teammate.And this meant that Miles was second.- Here is a clarification.Though the drivers finishedthe race in a heat,McLaren has been ruled the winner.- The team appealed the official rulesand argued that Miles should have won,but the rules is rules.But being the good sport that,and great team player that he was,when he met up with McLaren at the pits,he grabbed him and he gave him a hug.He even told reporters,"Please be careful howyou report what I've said."I work for these people."They've been awfully good to me."The journalists wereprepared to tear into Fordfor allowing their championdriver to be cheatedout of his win on atechnicality, but they didn'tbecause Ken asked them.But Ken Miles did the mostKen Miles thing possible.(engine whirs)He started testing thenew generation of the GT40called the J-car to preparefor next year's race.On August 17th, 1966,(sighs) Miles spent the morning tearing upRiverside InternationalRaceway when all of a sudden,the car veered sharply to the rightand took flight as it tumbleddown a 10-foot embankment.First responders were almostimmediately on the sceneand they found Miles laying on his backmore than 15 feet away from the car.The crash was so violentthat his seat belt hadbeen torn from its mount,ejecting him from the cockpit.Now, news of the crash madeheadlines around the worldwith one simple phrase.Ken Miles is dead.His obituary in Road and Track magazinestated that no one who knewKen's driving can believethat the accident resultedfrom a mistake on his part.Shelby made a final statementregarding the accident.He said, "We really don'tknow what caused it."The car just disintegrated."We have nobody to take his place."Nobody."He was our baseline, our guiding point."He was the backbone of our program."There will never be another Ken Miles."If you wanna know more about Ken Milesand his amazing Le Mansjourney, do yourself a favor.Get Ford versus Ferrari on digital nowand Blu-ray February 11th.It's a really awesome tellingof a really awesome story.Thank you again to Ford versus Ferrarifor helping us tell theincredible story of Ken Miles,and thank you guys forwatching Donut Media.If you're not already subscribed,go hit that subscribe button and that bellso you don't miss any of our videos.We're trying to get to the pointwhere we're putting one out every day.Did you see the movie?Let me know what you likedin the comments below.How did we do in our coverage?Remember to tell people thatyou love that you love them.And as always, I love you.