MotorsportReg.com, a registration platform for automotive gatherings and driving events that many BMW CCA members are intimately familiar with, was recently acquired by Hagerty, the classic car insurer that is currently in the midst of transforming itself into an automotive lifestyle brand—which also happens to be a BMW CCA sponsor. For those of us who have participated in anything from a simple weekend gathering or tech talk at a local shop, to monthly autocross, high-performance driving events, and track days, MotorsportReg has likely been the medium used to transfer payment and secure a spot.
Founded in 2003 in the San Francisco Bay Area, MotorsportReg has an intimate relationship with the BMW CCA, as the venture originated within the Golden Gate Chapter as a way to better organize events like track days and autocross. Originally a hobby, a recent press release posted on MotorsportReg explains that over the subsequent sixteen years, a twelve-person team grew to handle over 40,000 events and 2,000,000 registrations. During that time, MotorsportReg evolved from a simple platform to a service that is recognized throughout the motorsport world that exists in North America.
MotorsportReg achieved this growth without external funding, and has become a utility that many of us consider ubiquitous when it comes to our yearly event schedules. In the blog post linked above, MotorsportReg founder Brian Ghidinelli seems to describe Hagerty purchasing his platform as a win-win situation; beyond being a respected authority when it comes to classic car valuations, and running a website full of engaging content, both written and in video form on YouTube, Hagerty has expressed a goal of creating a movement of 6,000,000 automotive enthusiasts by the year 2025 in hopes of preserving the legacy of automotive and motorsport culture.
With that in mind, Ghidinelli has assumed the role of managing director of Hagerty Motorsports. MotorsportReg is expected to continue operations as usual, but with the clear advantage of greater resources behind it, a growing capacity for more personnel, and access to Hagerty’s wide-ranging marketing reach.
We wish everyone at MotorsportReg, and those that helped to build it along the way, great success going forward with the acquisition by Hagerty.—Alex Tock
[Images via MotorsportReg.com, The Hagerty Group, LLC.]
