Be Differential

SEMA is trade-only, so you need a job in the car industry to get in. Here’s how to build a career in the automotive aftermarket.

The SEMA Show takes over Las Vegas November 3–6, and every badge on that floor belongs to someone who works in the car world. Eva Gregory breaks down the five types of aftermarket jobs, four ways to get your foot in the door, and why this industry is closer to enthusiasts than racing or the big carmakers. Plus: Antonelli wins in Austin and can clinch the F1 title in Mexico City this Sunday.

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From the Racetrack to the Road: The IP Behind Formula 1 Innovation.

When a Formula 1 team builds something brilliant, the next question is just as important as the engineering: do you patent it, or do you keep it secret? In this episode of BeDifferential, Dr Paul Loustalan, head of the Future Transport team at specialist IP law firm Reddie & Grose, pulls back the curtain on the legal strategy behind motorsport’s most valuable innovations.

Paul advises automotive manufacturers and innovators on protecting high-value engineering through patents, trade secrets, and wider IP strategy, and recently wrote about how F1 operates as a testbed for the technologies that eventually reach road cars. We explore what makes the sport such a powerful innovation environment, the trade-offs between patents and trade secrets, what published filings can tell us about propulsion, electrification, and mobility over the next five to seven years, and the IP story behind the 2026 regulation changes.

We also talk about IP law as a non-traditional entry point into motorsport, and the one question every young engineer should answer before telling anyone what they’ve built.

This episode is sponsored by KNIPEX. https://www.knipex-tools.com/

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Want to work in motorsport but you’re not a driver or engineer? Here are the 5 side doors into a racing career, and how to start this year.

F1 hits Austin for the US Grand Prix, and Kimi Antonelli could clinch the title. But the cameras follow 20 drivers while thousands of people run the weekend. Eva Gregory breaks down the jobs behind a race weekend: operations, media, business, technical, and officials. Plus five practical ways to break in, no connections required.

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Meet Helen — a classic VW Beetle owned, driven, wrenched on, and genuinely loved by Annie Van Orman, the enthusiast behind @annies_vw. In this episode of BeDifferential, Annie talks about how she fell into the world of air-cooled cars, what she saw in Helen when she found her, and what years of hands-on ownership have taught her that no manual ever could. We get into the Hemmings Great Race, the best and worst roadside repair stories, the projects she's quietly given up on, and the ones she'd do all over again. Annie also shares what's in her non-negotiable roadside toolkit — including the tools she trusts when things get real, thanks to this episode's sponsor KNIPEX — and looks ahead to SEMA 2026 with advice for first-time attendees. Whether you're a seasoned air-cooled owner or someone who has always wanted to get into classic cars but doesn't know where to start, Annie has something real to say to you. 

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Eva Gregory gets asked this question more than almost anything else: how do I actually get a job in motorsports? This week she answers it — for real, without the motivational speech.

She started as a cashier at a karting facility. She ended up as Director of Operations at Road Atlanta. The path wasn't linear, wasn't glamorous at the start, and didn't come from a motorsports degree or a connected family. It came from showing up, learning how things actually work, and developing a specific skill that made her useful. In this episode she breaks down what most people misunderstand about how this industry operates, the five steps that genuinely move the needle, and the mindset question she thinks more people need to sit with before they make the leap.

Practical, honest, and directly applicable — whether you're fresh out of school, considering a career pivot, or an enthusiast who's been quietly wondering for years.

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Topics covered: how to get a job in motorsports, motorsports career paths, corner marshaling and volunteering, track operations, mechanical empathy, career advice for enthusiasts, motorsports community, SCCA, NASA, club racing entry points.

#BeDifferential #ThursdayPitStop #MotorsportsCareer #GetAJobInMotorsports #AutomotiveCareer #RoadAtlanta #CareerAdvice #Karting #MotorsportsPodcast #CarPodcast #EvaGregory

James Dornor looked around the motorsport industry and couldn't find a community that felt like his, so he built one. In this episode of BeDifferential, the founder of Driven By Us traces the full journey from that personal experience of isolation to an organization that has directly impacted over 4,600 students and reached nearly 19,000 more through workshops, conferences and academia events.

Driven By Us' mission is to drive meaningful change by championing underrepresented talent in STEM and reshaping perceptions across the automotive and motorsport sectors. Built by industry professionals, it empowers aspiring leaders through a community space that offers mentorship, development pathways, and real-world opportunities, supporting personal and professional growth in environments grounded in inclusion, excellence, and equity. Its reach spans the UK, North America, Europe, and beyond, and through partnerships with schools and the wider industry ecosystem, it shapes a future where diverse voices lead, inspire, and succeed, supported by industry-leading role models embedded within the community.

That work includes a Driver Academy, which supports young talent from underrepresented backgrounds through a system that was never designed with them in mind, in partnership with the FAT Karting League, founded by Rob Smedley, former Ferrari Race Engineer. Recognized with the Prime Minister's Points of Light Award and the Black Talent Award for Social Change & Race Media – Inspirational Campaign in Motorsport, Driven By Us has also built genuine partnerships with Aston Martin Amarco F1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, and Mission 44, Sir Lewis Hamilton Charity. 

In this conversation, James gets honest about what the industry keeps getting wrong about this work, what "inclusion built into the chassis" actually looks like in a real conversation with a manufacturer who thinks they're already doing enough, and what the version of motorsport Driven By Us is building toward actually looks like. For any young person who loves this sport but has never once seen themselves reflected in it, this conversation is for you.

Learn more about Driven By Us at https://www.drivenbyus.org/

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The SRO Indianapolis 8 Hour is happening this weekend at one of the most iconic motorsports venues in the world — and most American motorsports fans couldn't tell you what series it's part of. Eva Gregory wants to change that.

This week she makes the case for SRO GT racing and the Intercontinental GT Challenge: what it is, what makes it distinctive, why Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course is a genuinely compelling venue for endurance GT machinery, and why this format has a specific argument to make for car enthusiasts that goes beyond the racing itself. When Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, and Aston Martin are all on the same grid for eight hours, running production-based cars with road-going analogs — that connection to the broader car culture world matters.

She closes with the question she's genuinely asking: if you could add one racing series to your regular calendar, what would it be, and why?

Topics covered: SRO Motorsports Group, Intercontinental GT Challenge, GT World Challenge America, GT3 racing, Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, GT racing and car culture, endurance racing formats.

#BeDifferential #ThursdayPitStop #SRO #Indianapolis8Hour #GTRacing #GT3 #InterContinentalGTChallenge #MotorsportsPodcast #CarPodcast #CarCulture #EvaGregory

SimCraft co-founder Sean Patrick MacDonald joins the BeDifferential Podcast to talk motion simulation, racing technology, and what it really took to build one of the most advanced simulator platforms in the world. From the center of mass architecture SimCraft shares with NASA to six degrees of freedom, 90% real-world fidelity, and translational seat time, Sean breaks down the science behind why SimCraft performs differently from every other simulator on the market. We cover endorsements from Jimmie Johnson, Jordan Taylor, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Scott Pruett, professional team applications with Wayne Taylor Racing, Skip Barber Racing School, Legacy Motor Club, and Abel Motorsports for INDY NXT, and a product range from $12,900 to $149,900. We also talk about SimCraft's role in democratizing access to motorsport for drivers and engineers who can't afford traditional track time.

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This episode is sponsored by KNIPEX. Learn more at https://www.knipex-tools.com/

I spent years working inside Road Atlanta — and this week, I'm going back. 🏁

The Motul Petit Le Mans is the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale: ten hours, or 1,000 miles, at one of the most storied road racing facilities in the country. But this week isn't just a race preview. Eva Gregory breaks down what makes IMSA multi-class endurance racing one of the most under-appreciated formats in American motorsports — and reflects honestly on what it means to return to a place that shaped her career, as someone who went from hospitality work to track rentals to Director of Operations at Road Atlanta.

This one is personal. And it ends with a question she's been sitting with for a while.🎙 ABOUT BE DIFFERENTIALBe Differential is hosted by Eva Gregory — marketing partnerships manager at Hagerty, former Director of Operations at Road Atlanta, and lifelong automotive enthusiast. Every Tuesday, Eva sits down with guests from across the motorsports and automotive world. Every Thursday, she brings you the Thursday Pit Stop: solo commentary on current events, industry lessons, and the questions worth asking out loud.

New episodes every Tuesday & Thursday.

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📌 IN THIS EPISODEThe Motul Petit Le Mans — IMSA's ten-hour, 1,000-mile season finale at Road Atlanta — is one of the most compelling events in American motorsports. Eva Gregory breaks down what makes the race distinctive: the multi-class format with GTP, GTD Pro, and GTD machinery all on circuit simultaneously, the endurance strategy that rewards consistency over pure speed, and what it actually looks and sounds like to be at Road Atlanta when the field comes through at pace. But this episode is also a personal one. Eva spent years working inside Road Atlanta — moving through hospitality, track rentals, local partnerships, and eventually Director of Operations — and this week she's returning to the facility as an outside professional for the first time. She reflects on what the place gave her that she couldn't see while she was inside it, what endurance racing represents in the larger landscape of American motorsport, and why she believes IMSA deserves more of the mainstream conversation than it currently gets.

#BeDifferential #ThursdayPitStop #MotulPetitLeMans #IMSA #IMSAWeatherTech #RoadAtlanta #EnduranceRacing #PetitLeMans #GTP #GTD #MultiClassRacing #AmericanMotorsports #MotorsportsPodcast #CarPodcast #RacingPodcast #Hagerty #CarCulture #EvaGregory #TrackDay #MotorsportsCareers

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Ava Hanssen started racing at four years old in Elkhorn, Wisconsin — and she hasn't slowed down since. In this episode, the 16-year-old Formula Four Junior Formula Championship driver talks about what it actually felt like to grow up racing, what 20+ championships across 11 years of competition really cost, and why winning her very first open wheel race at Circuit of the Americas is the moment she points to as proof she can do anything she sets her mind to. We get into the Skip Barber Racing School scholarship that changed her trajectory, what moving from karting to Legend Cars to Formula Ford to Formula Four has demanded of her at every step, and what it means to suddenly be racing on Amazon Prime, Pluto TV, and Roku. Ava also opens up about the financial reality of funding a racing career at 16 and how strength training, school, art, and music all fit into a week that would exhaust most adults. And for any young girl who loves speed but doesn't see herself in motorsport yet — this one's for you.

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This episode is sponsored by KNIPEX. Learn more at https://www.knipex-tools.com/