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John Miles 1943-2018
Tue 10 Apr 2018
It is with great sadness that we report the sudden death of 750 Motor Club Vice President John Miles. After learning his craft behind the wheel of Austin Sevens in the 1960s, he raced with great success in sportscars before becoming involved with Team Lotus. Initially competing and taking victories in F3, Miles was side-stepped from Formula 2 to work on development for the 4WD Lotus 63 F1 car, and subsequently entered a total of 15 Grands Prix.
After a spell back in sportscar racing, engineer Miles transferred his expertise to motoring journalism; road testing for Autocar magazine – where he was well known for his 'Miles Behind the Wheel' reviews – and even including a brief foray onto TV screens as a presenter on BBC’s Top Gear. A desire to be more hands-on however led him back to work on development at Lotus Engineering, where he stayed for nearly two decades before stints in dynamics at Aston Martin and Multimatic.
Austin Sevens always however stayed close to his heart, as did the 750 Motor Club, and he took particular delight in helping to nurture driving and technical talent in the Club’s formulae. As well as his generously-funded Innovation, Novice or Young Driver Awards, he was a regular attendee at 750MC meetings each season. Often travelling in his Austin Seven to spectate and meet promising drivers, he was always keen to educate either trackside, or in recent years with lectures to help Club racers and special builders away from the circuit. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family at this time.