A Chat With Bryce Miller on His Spa Debut

Dated: July 30, 2009

Janos Wimpffen caught up with Bryce Miller at Spa just before the 24 Hours.

There are four Americans in the driving lineup at the Spa 24 this year. They include the accomplished gentleman drivers, Mark Patterson and Peter Ludwig, in the No. 120 Rosso Corsa Ferrari (although Mark’s South African twang belies his origins). Although a young man, the already veteran Porsche driver Patrick Long has raced in Europe many times. He’s aboard the No. 70 IMSA Performance Porsche. New to GT and Sports Car racing in Europe, but certainly not to American fans is the fourth man on the list, Bryce Miller.

Since 2007 Bryce has been a fixture on the Grand-Am and ALMS scene in Farnbacher-Loles and The Racer’s Group Porsches. He finished fifth last year in GA’s GT division. This is his first time at Spa although he’s run elsewhere in Europe, including stints in England with the Formula Ford series and a run at the Hungaroring. A trip around this circuit on a scooter a few days ago was his first lap of Spa, notwithstanding an endless series of trial runs on Playstation over the course of the past month, once he learned that he had a ride with the No. 97 Brixia Racing Porsche.

Asked about the difference between the virtual and the real he replied, “Playstation prepared me well, but there’s no substitute for the real thing. The biggest difference that I noted was the computer simulations don’t prepare you for the way that the wheels press down as you’re going through Eau Rouge. That, and the fact that my first time on the track was in the wet.”

Miller, like most first timers at the famed circuit, came away with a great deal of respect. “It takes a lot of local knowledge to master this place. A principal feature seems to be that quite often within a single corner the camber can change. The pattern of transition from track surface to curbs to drainage channels and surrounding turf varies from one part to another.  I’m still learning the braking points and these subtle changes make it a challenge. I also noticed that pattern and severity of the alligators (the curbs) varies a lot.”

While Miller might express concern about such a learning curve, comments like that more properly indicate his maturity in attacking a new challenge.  “I hope that my experience here will lead to one of my key goals, racing at Le Mans.”

He’s getting good coaching along the way. Much of it is coming from friend, sometime teammate—sometime rival, Wolf Henzler. “Wolf has been through the whole Porsche factory racing program and understands the ins-and-outs of each car and circuit.” Luca Berselli, team manager of Brixia is another who has been happily helping the new charge along. The name Brixia, by the way, is a phonetic play on phrase people from Brescia use to describe their city.

Perhaps no one is more closely coaching Bryce than his Dad, Paul. Keen sports car fans may remember the name Paul Miller. Yes, it is the same fellow who raced Corvettes and Camaros at American endurance races in the early 1970s, before taking on the Charles Mendez owned 935s later in the decade. Famously, he was one of the drivers of the Porsche 924 that ran with street tires at Le Mans.  Miller also raced 924s in IMSA and Trans-Am races as well.

Bryce is part of a four-pro driver lineup at Brixia—real candidates fro a podium spot. That would be sweet present come Sunday, as the 26th will be Bryce’s 27th birthday. The only thing sweeter would be an invitation to western France next June.

With the Brixia Racing Porsche taking second in GT2 yesterday, Miller is halfway to fulfilling his wishlist.
Janos Wimpffen, www.dailysportscar.com