Be Differential

Women in motorsport, car restoration, and engineering with Laila Quezada, founder of Pretty Girl Motorsports.

Laila Quezada is a mechanical engineer, automation technology student, and vehicle restorer who turned a love of Ford Mustangs into a motorsport media brand for women and girls. In this episode of BeDifferential, she shares how Pretty Girl Motorsports grew from apparel into educational media, a magazine that breaks down engineering and physics through restoration stories, and its first Rebelle Rally team sponsorship.

We talk about her path from Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Engineering to Southwest Technical College’s Automation Technology program, what a restoration teaches you that a classroom can’t, and what the “Under the Car Lift” stories reveal about why cars mean so much to the women who work on them. Laila also explains how she connects motorsport to trade education advocacy, from the Utah State Capitol to her rural community’s water and data center debate.

We also get into her TechForce Foundation nomination, what SEMA represents for a founder building a brand in a space that has historically had very little representation for women, and the single most important thing she thinks the industry could do to change that.

If you’re a young woman who loves cars and engineering but doesn’t see a clear path in, Laila has a message for you.

Learn more about today's podcast sponsor, KNIPEX at https://www.knipex-tools.com/

Take a deeper look at Laila's work, https://prettygirlmotorsports.com/

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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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🔗 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-gregory-

📌 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/

F1's newest circuit couldn't produce a race. Three days later, F1 gave Monaco a sprint. Is that fixing the racing, or just adding more TV?

This week on the Thursday Pit Stop, Eva Gregory breaks down the Madring's F1 debut at the Spanish Grand Prix. Norris lost the race to an ill-timed Virtual Safety Car, and the 57 laps that followed had fewer than ten overtakes. The circuit's designer now says only minimal changes are possible, on a ten-year contract. Then we dig into the 2027 F1 calendar: Portimão and Istanbul Park return, sprints expand to ten, and Monaco gets its first-ever sprint race.

Plus, your Azerbaijan Grand Prix preview. The race moves to Saturday this year, Verstappen is chasing a record third Baku win, and Kimi Antonelli, 81 points clear at just 20, closes in on becoming F1's youngest-ever world champion.

🏁 Your turn: Monaco sprint, fixing the racing or just more TV? Tell us in the comments or DM @bedifferentialpodcast on instagram!

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Nathan Lyons was 12 years old when he left Fort Worth, Texas and moved to North Carolina to chase a career in racing full-time. In this episode, the AK Performance driver backed by Ally Racing talks about what that decision actually felt like for him and his family, what it meant to be the kid who'd already made a bet on a career while everyone else was figuring out middle school, and what racing Bandoleros taught him that still shows up in how he drives today. We get into his time with Rev Racing — one of the most competitive youth development programs in the country — two Summer Shootout wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and his rookie Late Model Stock season where he finished Top-10 in the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Southeast region. Nathan also breaks down what the NASCAR development pipeline really demands, what Hickory Motor Speedway teaches drivers that other tracks can't, and what he'd tell any young kid from a smaller market who loves NASCAR but has no idea where to start.

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IMSA just shortened its Indianapolis race back to 2 hours and 40 minutes, after two years as a six-hour endurance race. This Sunday, the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship returns to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Battle on the Bricks — now a sprint again, after Road America took over as the six-hour endurance round.

Eva Gregory draws on her years running motorsports facility operations to make the real case for shorter racing, the real case for endurance racing, and why the better question isn't which one is "real" racing — it's whether the format fits the place. She closes with what this swap says about how we measure commitment far beyond the racetrack, plus what to watch when the green flag drops with a tight four-way championship battle on the line.

Covered in this episode:— What actually changed at Indianapolis, and why Road America picked up the six-hour slot— The case for shorter racing: the fan's day, the track, and event operations— The case for endurance racing: strategy, storylines, and the atmosphere of a long race weekend— What the swap really tells us about matching format to place— The championship picture heading into the penultimate round, and what to watch for— A closing question about how we measure commitment, on and off the track

The Be Differential Podcast releases twice weekly — guest interviews on Tuesdays, Thursday Pit Stop solo episodes every Thursday.

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Sam Russo didn't plan to compete in the Rebelle Rally. Then she turned to a friend at a conference and said "we should do this" — and the rest, as they say, was chaos in the best possible way. In this episode of BeDifferential, Sam talks about how a moment of "say yes to the crazy" energy led her to prep a high-mileage 4Runner, build navigation skills from scratch, and so much more before going into the desert. Now returning for 2026 with a new co-driver partnership alongside Lacy Taylor, Sam breaks down what the Rebelle Rally actually is — 8 days, no GPS, no speed component, just maps, compass, roadbooks, and teamwork across some of the most demanding terrain in the American West. The 11th edition launches from Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the first time ever and adds Utah to the route, running October 7–17, 2026. We also get into why the Rebelle has become such a powerful rallying point for women in the automotive aftermarket — and what Sam wants to prove to herself by the time she crosses the finish line.

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Formula 1 opens a brand-new circuit in a European capital this weekend, which is a thing that basically never happens. The Spanish Grand Prix moves to Madrid — the Madring — and it's the first F1 race in the Spanish capital since Jarama in 1981. Forty-five years.

But the part I can't stop thinking about isn't the track. It's the contract.

Three weeks ago Zandvoort hosted its last Grand Prix because its promoter — privately funded, sold out five months early — chose not to renew. Madrid just signed for ten years. Same sport, same era, opposite decisions. And the reason why explains more about modern Formula 1 than any track guide will.

Here's the number that made it click: the circuit cost roughly €83 million to build. The hospitality partner has committed around €400 million over ten years. The hospitality operation is worth about five times the racetrack.

Also in this one: what the Madring actually is (a hybrid — about 2.2km of purpose-built track stitched to real city streets, with two tunnels), and La Monumental, the 548-metre, 270-degree banked corner that's now the longest corner in Formula 1. Banked at 24%, twelve metres wide, and blind over a crest. Nobody knows yet whether it'll be flat out.

Zandvoort couldn't make six years work. Madrid signed for ten. Is that Formula 1 fixing its problem — or just moving it somewhere the taxpayer pays?

I argue it both ways and genuinely don't land on one. Tell me where you come down.

The Thursday Pit Stop, from the Be Differential podcast. New episodes every Thursday.Newsletter: https://www.bedifferentialpodcast.com/

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

Charlie Wiggins was a four-time Gold & Glory Sweepstakes champion who built his own race car, ran a thriving mechanic shop on Indiana Avenue in Indianapolis, and achieved things that should have made him a household name in American motorsports. Instead, his story was nearly lost entirely. In this episode of BeDifferential, former GM Vice President of Global Design Ed Welburn — the man who has spent years championing Charlie's legacy — joins us to tell it in full. Ed traces how he first encountered Charlie's story, what it took to decide this was something worth doing rather than just worth knowing, and what the recovery of the original Wiggins Special — unseen publicly for over 90 years — meant to him personally. As guest curator of For Gold & Glory, a world premiere exhibition opening September 19th, 2026 at LeMay — America's Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, Ed also shares what it takes to tell a story this layered through objects, imagery, and space — and why the centennial of Charlie's first championship made this the moment to do it.

The exhibition opens September 19th. Tickets and details at http://americascarmuseum.org/ForGoldandGlory.

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

NASCAR quietly rebuilt its entire playoff format for 2026 and almost nobody covered it. Then on Saturday night at Daytona, it produced the exact result it was designed to prevent.

Here's the change: the knockout rounds are gone. No more three rounds of three and a winner-take-all Championship 4. It's a ten-race Chase — the first since 2013 — with one points reset and no eliminations. And "win and in" is abolished. The field is set purely on regular season points.

Which is why what happened at Daytona is so strange. Ryan Preece went into the last race of the regular season 31 points below the cutline, won it in overtime with a last-lap pass, and made the playoffs — but not because he won. Winning doesn't do that anymore. He got in on points, and he needed every single one of them. Meanwhile the driver he passed had a 31-point cushion, won the opening stage, and lost his season on a pit call.

So the rule worked exactly as designed and changed nothing. I get into why that's more interesting than it sounds, and why the new format didn't make Daytona calmer — it made it crueler.

Also: the Southern 500 opens the Chase this Sunday, Alex Palou wrapped up a fourth straight IndyCar title, and Milwaukee ran race two before race one because of the weather.

A driver 31 points below the cutline won at Daytona and made the playoffs anyway. Did NASCAR fix its format — or just make the same thing happen through a different door?

Tell me where you land.

The Thursday Pit Stop, from the Be Differential podcast. New episodes every Thursday.

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Christian Valverde grew up with Silverstone as a backdrop — and at 18, he's already closer to that world than most people ever get. In this episode, Christian talks about nearly a decade of competitive karting across four countries, four championship titles, and what it actually felt like to finish school without a clear path but with an unshakeable ambition. Now competing in the 750 Motor Club MX-5 Cup Championship, he breaks down what his week looks like right now — instructing at Drive Silverstone, coaching at Kart Silverstone, interning at iZone Driver Performance, and racing, all at the same time. He gets into what telemetry and data analysis have taught him about his own driving, what shifted between Race 1 and Race 3 at Snetterton, and why coaching other drivers while still developing yourself is more complicated than it sounds. We also get honest about the financial reality of building a motorsport career without a traditional pathway — and what he'd tell any young person who loves racing but doesn't know where the door is.

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Follow along on Christian's journey on Instagram @christian_valverde1 and his website, https://valverdemotorsport.com/

GT3 is the most successful form of sports car racing in the world, and most people have never had it explained to them. So this week I'm doing that — and then telling you about the strangest, best idea in racing right now.

GT3 turned 20 this year. To mark it, SRO and Peter Auto launched the GT3 Revival Series: a historic championship for GT3 cars built between 2006 and 2013. Real Balance of Performance, set from period data. 31 cars at the opening round. And a reigning World Rally Champion racing a BMW Z4 — the actual chassis that won at Paul Ricard in 2013.

Cars a lot of us still think of as modern are now old enough to have a vintage series. I don't think that's sad. I think it's the best answer anyone's found to the question of what you do with a great racing car when it stops being current.

Also in this one: how Balance of Performance actually works, why the Pro / Gold / Silver / Bronze class structure means a fast amateur can share a grid with a factory driver, and what's at stake at the 3 Hours of Nürburgring this Sunday.

A 2013 GT3 car is now "historic." Is that a series doing right by its own past — or has racing just gotten too good at making things obsolete?

Tell me where you land.

GT World Challenge Europe streams its races free. Sunday afternoon in Germany, Sunday morning in the States.

The Thursday Pit Stop, from the Be Differential podcast. New episodes every Thursday.

Newsletter: https://www.bedifferentialpodcast.com/