MotorSport Vision was founded by John Britten, Sir Peter Ogden and Jonathan Palmer, who won the Formula Two Championship in 1983 and competed in 88 Formula One Grands Prix over the next six years.

MSV is famous for buying Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton and Cadwell Park in 2004 and working to modernise their facilities and customer care. Brands Hatch, the former venue for the British Grand Prix, has began hosting international car racing again - events either joining or back on its calendar include the DTM German touring car championship, the FIA World Touring Car Championship and the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.

In 2006, MSV formed MotorSport Vision Racing (MSVR), providing a complete car and bike racing organisation capability to the MotorSport Vision group. MSVR organises over 30 events annually across 10 UK circuits. MotorSport Vision's trackday division, Club MSV, has grown to become one of the UK's biggest trackday companies in the past four years and organises novice events up to advanced driver training days. Alongside PalmerSport, MSV also run driving experiences at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park.

MSV also runs the Formula Palmer Audi championship which, over the last decade, has advanced the careers of hundreds of young hopefuls, nine of whom have made it all the way to Formula One. In 2008 MSV also acquired the rights to the British Superbike Championship which has already seen the considerable benefits of MSV's commercial, administrative and organisational expertise.

In September 2008 MotorSport Vision won an FIA tender to supply cars and operate the FIA Formula Two Championship, a new international single seater series derived from an FIA initiative to provide young, talented drivers with the opportunity to compete in top-level racing on a competitive budget. The Formula Two cars, like Formula Palmer Audi, are assembled and prepared in a dedicated facility at Bedford Autodrome, also home to PalmerSport and FPA.

One of its founders, John Britten, died on 25 November, after a long period of illness.

In 1986, John Foulston bought Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Snetterton circuits from Grovewood Securities and established the Brands Hatch Leisure (BHL) company. The following year, the company acquired Cadwell Park before Foulston died testing a McLaren IndyCar at Silverstone. Ownership of BHL passed to his wife Mary, but the company was run by John Webb until 1990, when daughter Nicola Foulston took over the running. In that time, Brands Hatch hosted higher-profile series such as Formula 3000 and Superbike World Championship racing. 1988 saw further changes to the circuit layout, with a chicane added at Dingle Dell Corner, while Westfield Bend and Graham Hill Bend were tightened. New pits and a corporate entertainment facility were added in the late-1990s.

In 1999, Foulston announced that Brands Hatch had acquired the rights to the British Grand Prix from 2002. Whilst discussions were ongoing with regards to planning permission to bring the circuit up to F1 requirements, Foulston sold BHL to Octagon Motorsports (a subsidiary of Interpublic) for £120 m. Octagon, however, failed to obtain the necessary planning permission and instead decided to lease Silverstone in order to host the Grand Prix. However, high-profile single-seater racing did return to Brands Hatch in 2003, when a round of the CART series was held at the circuit. Despite attracting around 40,000 spectators the race was not retained for subsequent seasons.

With financial pressures stemming from running the British Grand Prix, Octagon sold off the group of four circuits, including Brands Hatch, to the MotorSport Vision group headed by ex-F1 driver Jonathan Palmer in 2004.

After many years of decay, Oulton was given new life when it, along with Brands Hatch, Snetterton and Cadwell Park, was bought by MotorSport Vision. MSV, headed by ex-F1 racer Jonathan Palmer, have completely turned the circuits around, tidying them up and pulling the crowds in.