The "J" car was the early version of what became the "Mark IV" GT. That it had an automatic was secondary to the goals. The automatic was at the time thought to give an advantage as Chaparral had one (like the "bomber gap" it was a "if they have one, we need one" issue) and as I understand it, the suspect failure in the car related to the bonded honeycomb monocoque/ suspension failing and causing the wreck.
A most sad event as Miles was a real charecter and a great long distance endurance racer. And he was not well liked amoungst the crew, they even replaced his toothpaste with Preparation H at one event...
Rick
