DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 9, 2008) – Picking out a helmet design can sometimes be a daunting task, to say the least. But for Bryce Miller, it’s just another part of being a race car driver.

The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 GT driver, in his first season with TRG, said he enjoys layout out the design, but keeps in the back of his mind the need for his sponsors to be in certain places.

That was his main point of consideration for his existing helmet, which displays the U.S. flag in a not-so-obvious fashion. As Miller currently spends much of his time in sports car racing, the helmet’s design took more of a backseat than it had in the past and focused more on his primary sponsors, including Marquis Jet, Resorts International, Total and IPC.

“Laying out a canvas that would allocate appropriate space for placement of my sponsors’ logos was something I took into consideration in this helmet design,” Miller said. “I think open-wheel drivers learn to use their helmets the best as a marketing tool in this way because their helmets are constantly exposed to photographs. This is why the majority of the graphic effects have been restricted to the top portion of my helmet – the rest of the canvas is relatively conservative and lends opportunity to placement of our four sponsors.”

The design appears to be fairly basic with four bands wrapping horizontally around the helmet. The top bears the most of graphics, with blue stars laying atop blue tear drops on a blue canvas.

“The tear drops taper from the front to the back of the helmet and were incorporated to give the helmet a feeling of speed or motion,” Miller said. “There is a lot of contrast delivered by shading and pearl or chrome undertones, which plays with the light well and achieves different effects from under different lighting and angles. The rest of the helmet is largely made up of Red and Pearl White with smaller Navy Blue and White lines accenting these larger bands of color.”

Thus, the U.S. identity.

“You wouldn’t necessarily know this to be the theme of the helmet unless it was pointed out to you,” Miller said. “I spoke with my Helmet Designer at Bullseye Visual on how to achieve this identity in an understated manner. We used off color blues and reds and a pearl white making the focus more about the appeal in color design rather than theme. The theme is also played down by the Navy Blue in the helmet which helps to make the Pearl White and Red colors pop.”

Miller, a veteran of open-wheel racing himself, once had a helmet that resembled a Jamaican flag and was teased by his crew, he said. However, that helmet came up missing from Miller’s home.

“We joke that someone drove out of our driveway to return home proceeding through tolls, drive-thru and the like all while wearing my helmet,” Miller said. “Fortunately, I have grown to like my current helmet design better – plus this new design carried me to a Championship in 2007 so it must be good!

Miller said he has liked his recent helmet designs, and has enjoyed viewing his fellow competitors’ caps.

“I think everyone’s helmet design is interesting because it is a statement or an expression of that person and it’s also the identity that driver would more than likely choose to have the racing community identify them by,” Miller said. “Why and how people choose to express themselves is always interesting.”

Blog 5

The video rental store in my area has closed down so my girlfriend and I rent or buy our movies now using iTunes and then watch it on our TV. It’s really easy and I highly recommend it. We rented “Enchanted” last evening, starring fellow Grand-Am driver “McDreamy”. The first 10 minutes of the movie is a cartoon so I found myself telling her she downloaded the wrong movie. Then suddenly these cartoon characters turned into real people and I looked like a real jerk! What a setup! There were some really Laugh out Loud funny parts and we both enjoyed it.

I’ve made a fundamental shift to focus a little more on my cardio-training as we approach Mexico City. The altitude there is significant and I tend to be a little sensitive to altitude changes. However, I’m really looking forward to Mexico City to redeem ourselves of our result at Homestead. My co-driver Ted Ballou tangled with another car in the opening stint and it cost us a significant reduction in horsepower through a crimped left exhaust pipe and we had a slight geometry change in the left rear of the car as well. The incident cost us a stop-and-go penalty which put us a lap down and then a later miscommunication rendered us another stop and go because of a pit stop that was out of sequence. Still, Ted and I are excited about the possibilities in the 2008 Championship. He has never been to the track before but his rate of development coming from the KONI Series has been rapid and I know by race time he will be ready.

I haven’t been feeling so well the last month or so and after a visit to the Doctor I’ve learned that Ragweed in Florida has been at an all-time high this year. With all the time I’ve spent in Florida the last couple months it makes sense why my allergies would be so out of control. I have felt like I have a cold. Now that I’m on top of it more I’m starting to feel better but my publicist never cuts me a break and keeps cracking the whip so I have to keep writing these journals for this supposed Blog Captain, Michael Harker? Have you guys heard about this? Too bad the writer’s strike just ended. ; )

Talk at you next Friday!

Monday, 31 March 2008

Blog 4

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, I drag raced down 11th Ave. at the opening ceremony for the NY International Auto Show last Saturday. Afterwards we had our 2007 No. 87 Marquis Jet Porsche on display for the weekend so I ended up staying there all weekend to sign autographs. It’s amazing the responses you get from people when wearing a driver’s suit next to a race car.

Top 20 Most Popular Comments and Questions at the Auto Show (none are exaggerated):

1. “You look like Carl Edwards.”
2. “Are you a REAL race car driver?”
3. “Where do you go to the bathroom? Do you pee in the car?”
4. “How do you drive for 24 hours straight?”
5. “Can I just take a driving test to get a racing license?
6. “I bet I could beat you.”
7. “I want to start racing, where can I send my resume to? I can start by changing tires for you.”
8. “Do you drive for NASCAR??
9. “Why don’t you drive for NASCAR?”
10. “Is this your job? Do you just drive a car for a living?”
11. “Can I buy your car?”
12. “Is this free?” (The signed hero cards)
13. “How much for a signed autograph?”
14. “Could you get me free tickets to a race?”
15. “How did you get into racing?”
16. “You must get a lot of speeding tickets, huh?”
17. “What’s your everyday car?”
18. “How’s it going, Dirk…Oh, you’re not German?”
19. “You and Dirk look alike, how’s that?”
20. “Do you use NOS?”

Video from Auto Show

Blog 3

This Saturday should be a fun time and a purposeful exercise for my sponsors Marquis Jet and Resorts International. I’ve been told that 4 blocks on 11th Avenue will be closed down allowing for us to do some standing starts and doughnuts in the 2007 #87 Farnbacher Loles Championship winning  Porsche. I am happy for my sponsors who will receive great national press coverage from the event. Dirk Werner, my co-driver from last year is home in Germany studying and enjoying some time before he hops on a plane back to the states for the Miami Grand Prix next Saturday. It is too bad he won’t be there – that would be cool, but I guess he has the Autobahn and Nurburgring public roads to enjoy back home. To him 4 city blocks is probably a pretty small public playground.

I don’t remember a time I could ever have done speeding, doughnuts or standing starts on a public road legally here in the US with exception to the street courses I have raced on. After this Saturday I will be able to say I have! It is a shame we cannot drive faster here in the states. However, living here in New Jersey I can say with confidence that this is a good thing. The number of bad drivers on the road in New Jersey and New York is just incredible. When you go to Germany and then come back here to the states your brain freezes for a week – you think – how can everyone be doing this so wrong! So until our states figure out a better driver education and enforcement system I would have to say this metropolitan area certainly needs speed limits. And until we figure it out here in the US it will have to be a missed opportunity at a more efficient road system.

Next Saturday is the real prize. We head to Miami for the 2nd round of the Grand-Am Rolex Championship and I look forward to a good result coming off our 2nd place at The Daytona 24 hours. I have been training hard and have also kept myself in a racecar for the last couple weeks of downtime on the Grand-Am schedule, so are feeling confident and excited about the race.

Blog 2

Some of my fondest, most vivid memories growing up were watching my father [Paul Miller] race cars. He raced for about 30 years and was ranked as a top 10 Porsche driver in the world and was one of the more respected endurance drivers of his era. His career placed him in the exciting early turbo 911′s, the Porsche 934 and the Porsche 935. He also became a mainstay in the Trans-Am Series in the early and mid-80′s where he piloted a Porsche 924, custom built to compete against a larger presence of American manufacturers. He won and held the record for most top 5 qualifying positions for many years.

My older brother, Trent and Uncle Kenper also raced as well. I would go to many of their races and watch them in the pits. Just the exposure alone of walking around the pits and meeting people like Paul Newman inspired me to want to follow in my family’s footsteps. I was a big Formula 1 fan, and I’d get up with my dad on Sundays at six in the morning to watch races on TV. My godfather, John Gorsline who handles insurance for a lot of racing drivers, grabbed some tickets for us one time from an F1 team in Montreal. We had access to the pit lane, paddock, and pre-grid. I remember standing in front of the garages when Mika Hakkinen waved to me moments before going on track. That was really cool. It made racing seem tangible, like something I could do someday.

I was very eager to drive throughout my childhood so my father letup and got me into a go-kart when I was seven years old. My dad and I went to the track every weekend, and we worked really hard. That gave me some of my first insights into the elements that determine success in a race team. Having a father around who could coach me and share his experiences was invaluable and had tremendous impact on the rate of my development—it was very instrumental for me.

I could never say that racing is a passion of mine; it’s a passion of my whole family. Between my father, uncle, older brother and me, we have a combined 75+ years of experience in motor racing. It’s definitely an addictive passion!

Well, I have to go to another practice for the 12 Hours of Sebring this Saturday…

Blog 1

I started racing 18 years ago, and last year was by far one of the most exciting years as of yet. It was my first year in the Rolex Series and my co-driver, Dirk Werner and I achieved 10 of 13 podiums and the GT Team Championship. I missed the Driver’s Championship last year since I wasn’t in the same car as Dirk for the Rolex 24 At Daytona and he ended up a few points ahead of me when we began the season together in the second race. With that, my ultimate goal this year is to win the Driver’s and Team Championship.

Since our Homestead testing days I have been enjoying time at home with friends and family. A friend made off with my team jacket after visiting me and now I’m having difficulties getting it back – he must feel compelled to compensate by telling all the girls he’s a racing driver. I told him as long as you don’t tell them you’re me then we should be okay, Tim!

I’ve finally had some time to watch a couple of movies – Michael Clayton is a good one. I’ve also been training a lot and wrecking myself doing it, but I really enjoy the process especially for how measurable the results can be in a racecar.

We have two new sponsor’s joining our effort this year – Resorts International & Total Lubricants. We are very excited about both partnerships and their level of involvement and enthusiasm. Both companies look to benefit from networking opportunities we will deliver this season in events and through other initiatives. Total Lubricants is an especially interesting sponsor to be partnered with because of their long history in motorsports, in particularly in Formula 1. We have undergone a testing program of their oil and are benefiting from the quality and performance of their product.

I believe this season will be an extremely tight Championship for the GT category. Homestead is a small track with a couple hard braking zones and good passing opportunities. We look forward to a positive result at Homestead and are excited about our car’s development heading into the race.