The Formidable Brooke Bond

Building Speed’s featured Trailblazer of the week is the formidable Brooke Bond. Brooke is in Motorsports Operations and Marketing with Bosch USA. If you have been keeping up with Building Speed’s articles, you may remember that Brooke and the Building Speed team saw a lot of each other at the 24 Hours of Daytona earlier this year. Brooke has been an incredible supporter for Building Speed and has afforded opportunities to the team that we hope to one day afford to the next generation of young women. If you are interested in learning more about our experience with Brooke at Daytona, feel free to check out the article on our website. Now back to our Trailblazer.

Brooke’s journey to her current role at Bosch was “… not a straight one, that’s for certain.” She started her career in the fashion industry in New York City, and says she stuck with that until she “…missed the quality of the automotive industry,” before returning to the industry through weekend jobs and her own business and clients. 

Brooke's return to the industry had to be facilitated by a beginning in the industry: this for Brooke was her college job on the auto shows representing Ford Performance and Cadillac Racing at automotive shows and auctions, including Barrett-Jackson and Mecum, across the nation. She says that the  connections that she made during this time helped her once she began working for British Motorsport brands. These were Ginetta, Bowler, and Ariel Atom, all of which have Bosch components.

Brooke ended up calling her current boss at Bosch on a cold call and asked if they would be interested in joining her at events around the country. In terms of college students approaching cold calls, Brooke recommends “reaching out with intention.” She says she knew an overview of his business and knew that they had overlapping components in terms of what they had and what Brooke was promoting. When she reached out, she told her now-boss about that overlap, which included the Bosch Motorsport ABS, the engine control unit, and their software. While these components acted as a good starting place, Brooke says that they have evolved since she joined Bosch. She says she was not previously familiar with the LMDH system with the electric-brake system, or that they had several other engine controllers. These differences have contributed to Brooke’s evolving role at Bosch, and she says that “… now that I’m focused on one brand, I can focus on building those relationships internally and externally [to] promote the platform of motorsports.” In terms of that promotion, Brooke highlights the many levels of business and deal-making in motorsports, and says that “… even though Bosch Motorsports has been a part of Bosch for over a hundred years, a lot of people… don't realize why we go racing…” beyond “…power tools and home appliance…” Brooke is interested in fostering that realization. Beyond Bosch’s relationship with teams and series, she also wants people to see the global industry, citing, for example, Bosch’s hybrid system in WEC cars. 

In terms of being a woman in the industry, Brooke says that “… it was a hard road here,” and that she “…does not try to lie about that.” She says that, for example, “…some men… aren’t used to working with women in high-stress environments…” or that they may “…only have negative experiences with women in high-stress environments…” To combat this issue, Brooke diplomatically tries to “…meet them where they’re at,” stressing that neither party knows what the other knows, and that she wants to “…bridge that gap…” It is also important, Brooke mentions, to rid yourself of any assumptions you may feel the other party is entering the situation with. Brooke has noticed, in terms of positive changes since joining the industry, that it is “…a lot more team focused,” versus the “each woman for herself” mentality that was present when Brooke initially joined the industry. Our newfound focus on the next generation, including even just a friendly face upon entering a room, Brooke says, is “…really encouraging to see.” Watching the next generation grow, Brooke says, is as important as her own, sometimes risky or unclear, next steps. 

For women going into the STEM field specifically, Brooke recommends focusing on what you love and why you love it: “That will be your hook,” and will “separate you from the crowd.” Brooke’s hook, and what made her stand out, was that she had a different path from anyone else. Coming from fashion, Brooke says that she knew B2B relationships and consumer marketing, and knew how to create value from nothing, for example, her early British brands for which “…[her] budget was zero.” This allowed her, she says, “…to make friends and…solve problems collectively, [which] helps everyone grow together.” She says, “Dig deep, and learn… that matter where you are, you have skills that transfer.”  

In terms of Bosch itself, 2023 saw the unveiling of the LMDH system. This is, in Brooke’s words, “… the first globally homologated hybrid system for a mix of powertrains.” In other terms, this is the “…Le Mans Daytona Hybrid, [which] consists of the Bosch Daytona hybrid system.” Brooke goes on to explain that to be “globally homologated,” means that the LMDH system is acceptable to run in both the IMSA series in North America and WEC series in Europe and the east. This means that American brands can run similar cars in different series, according to Brooke, and has also immensely grown Bosch’s international program and relationship. Brooke predicts that this international focus and global economy will only continue to grow, which she has seen develop throughout her career. “That’s the most

beautiful thing about motorsports,” she says, “…it is a global language,” which can “solve a lot of problems.” The goal of LMDH, according to Brooke, was to make it cost less for original equipment manufacturers, or OEM’s, to be involved in the global market. Previously, in European Le Mans series and American endurance racing, each car's development meant that OEM’s had to take on three years of development and finance themselves. Now, they do not have to. The end goal is to make racing more accessible, Brooke reiterates. Even for big companies who appear to have deep pockets, “…every hundred thousand dollars means a lot…” says Brooke. This accessibility, Brooke hopes, will influence other series to become similarly more accessible. Brooke also commends IMSA’s commitment to accessibility for teams and drivers on a wide scale, including the Ferrari challenge and Mazda MX-5 cup, despite not having worked directly with those series. 

In order to drive the advancement of industry, Brooke says, “[Bosch looks] for new applications for the electronics that [they] already have in [their] portfolio.” Their recent project with Robert Wickens, a Canadian racing driver, is “the perfect example of that: having our electronic braking system from the LMDH car… [being] what’s needed for a hand-controlled braking system…” such as the one in Wickens’ car. This system was launched in September of 2024 and is now in the Corvette GT-3 car. Beyond this collaboration, Bosch and many other teams continue to expand collaborations with  global engineers who can monitor the hybrid system from different time zones which can make 12 and 24-hour races easier on in-house engineers. This is also reassuring for Brooke and her team in terms of having “fresh eyes” on the data. This ongoing communication and collaboration helps in “…less than ideal situations and [when] having to problem solve at a really rapid rate,” says Brooke. Additionally, this collaboration only serves to aid in the development of AI and simulation, according to Brooke. She says that every team and OEM have “massive data lakes” which Bosch is interested in continuously learning from, citing MultiMatic “…with a wind tunnel of their own…” as an expert that captures Bosch’s interest. 

Brooke stresses the importance of patience in the face of competition, especially competition with oneself, something Brooke is all-too-familiar with. She urges viewers to stay curious, despite assumptions you or others may have. “Cast a wide net and also don't short-sell yourself,” she and Connie Nyholm of the Virginia International Raceway say. Brooke’s favorite track in North America is VIR, being the first track which she drove at; her favorite driver is Ben Keating, especially because of his encouragement of women in the industry and what he has done for the industry in general. Anja Kemperman, Alba Colon, and Lilly Lindquist are Brooke Bond’s official nominations for future Trailblazers. Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with us, Brooke, and we cannot wait to see what you do next.