{"id":2014,"date":"2022-02-05T02:02:53","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T02:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/motorracingsports.com\/?p=2014"},"modified":"2022-02-05T02:09:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T02:09:08","slug":"what-are-the-most-popular-motorsports-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motorracingsports.com\/what-are-the-most-popular-motorsports-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are The Most Popular Motorsports In The World?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Almost from the very moment mankind discovered how to build moving automobiles, we started trying to race them. The earliest days of motorsports go back to 1894 when the first organized competition was arranged over a 50-mile course between Paris and Rouen. Motorsport has grown since then of course, hundreds all around the world, but which are the most popular<\/strong> motorsports?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formula 1 is currently the most popular motor sport with viewers around 87 million per race in 2020. NASCAR, predominantly an American Audience, has 2-12 million viewers per race, MotoGP claims 30 million views per season and IndyCar just recorded its most watched season with an average of 630,000 viewers per race.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those first racers only averaged speeds of around 10.2-mph, but it was only a year later that drivers were taking part in what is understood as the first \u2018true\u2019 motor race from Paris to Bordeaux<\/strong>\u2026and back again! From just 50 miles in 1894 to 730 miles in 1985! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only 2 years later in 1897 that the first auto racing venue was opened in Nice, France. From that point it started to spread around the world and become on of the most popular sports in the world. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Motorsports Today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So what does the world of motorsports look like today? The formation of the Federation Internationale de l\u2019Automobile (FIA) in 1904 was the beginning of the process to formalize and standardize motorsports. Obviously there are countless types of motorsports that go on around the world, but the FIA has formally recognized and organized World Championships in 11 different events over the years<\/strong>, 7 of which are still active today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Table 1: FIA Active World Championships<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Event<\/strong><\/td>Active Since\u2026<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Formula One World Championship<\/td>1950 (drivers); 1958 (manufacturers)<\/td><\/tr>
Karting World Championship<\/td>1964 (drivers)<\/td><\/tr>
World Rally Championship<\/td>1973 (manufacturers); 1979 (drivers)<\/td><\/tr>
World Endurance Championship<\/td>2012 (drivers\/manufacturers); 2018 (teams)<\/td><\/tr>
World Rallycross Championship<\/td>2014 (drivers and teams)<\/td><\/tr>
Formula E World Championship<\/td>2020 (drivers and teams)<\/td><\/tr>
World Rally-Raid Championship<\/td>2022 (drivers and manufacturers)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Table 2: FIA Former World Championship Events<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Event<\/strong><\/td>Active Years<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
World Manufacturers\u2019 Championship<\/td>1925-1927 (manufacturers)<\/td><\/tr>
World Sportscar Championship<\/td>1981-1992 (drivers); 1953-1984 (manufacturers); 1985-1992 (teams)<\/td><\/tr>
World Touring Car Championship<\/td>1987, 2005-2017 (drivers); 2005-2017 (manufacturers); 1987 (teams)<\/td><\/tr>
GT1 World Championship<\/td>2010-2012 (drivers and teams)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The FIA is not the be-all and end-all, of course, with just about every country having some form of their own motorsports association, many of which also send delegates to the FIA Council and Courts. Popular US motorsport event NASCAR <\/strong>in January 2022 sent<\/a> its very first representative to serve on FIA Courts, Gary Crotty. The FIA is not to be confused with the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme), which governs motorcycle sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the world\u2019s many sporting events — affiliated to the FIA or not — which are the most popular? That is the core question of today\u2019s article.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>How to Measure Motorsport Popularity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are arguably two ways of thinking when it comes to looking at the popularity of motorsports. <\/strong>The first is to look at average viewing figures for any major or regular event. If we know how many people watch the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1 versus the Indy 500, for instance, then we\u2019d know which is more popular of those two?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is that the only metric? Viewing figures is the most used go-to reference in sports when it comes to looking at popularity, but one can also consider the number of countries in which it\u2019s practiced, as well as the amount of prestige and\/or brand recognition that it has. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counting the number of countries is easy enough, but is it misleading?<\/strong> One motorsport could be popular in 12 small European countries, the total population of which is only a third of the United States where another motorsport might be exclusively popular. Is it fair to say the sport in European countries is more popular?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prestige, too, is hard to measure since it largely comes down to subjective opinion. What we\u2019ve done, then is boiled down the viewing figures, prestige and relative size of each sport in terms of scale and grandeur and come up with 8 motorsports that we believe are fair to call \u201cThe World\u2019s Most Popular Motorsports\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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