Motorsport Top 20

The aim of this website is to present and preserve the final standings of a wide range of motorsport championships for motorcycles, automobiles and motorized watercraft. It attempts to cover world, continental and national competitions. A cut-off at the Top 20 was chosen because it is a convenient size (not too long and not too brief), and it and gives a good overview of each championship with the same level of attention; some championships in some years did not have 20 participants. Most of the World and European standings are complete or nearly complete; some continental series have gaps, and national championship standings are largely incomplete. It is a work-in-progress, and more standings will be added as data are found.

Inspiration came from other web builders who specialized in one type of competition. In particular, the following were particularly inspiring and excellent resources:

The late Vincent Glon, who created racingmemo.free.fr for road racing

Gilou, who created and maintains memotocross.fr

Charlie Demathieu, the creator of trialonline.org

Przemysław Jany, the creator of www.historyspeedway.nstrefa.pl

Prior to the creation of the internet, fans had to wait for publication of detailed results in the press, but now one can follow results live on-line. Unfortunately, many websites, including those of organizing bodies. are not always very good at preserving historic results; frequently when a website is updated, older results are deleted. For the top championships (Formula 1, MotoGP, Rallying, NASCAR, Indycar, etc.), complete results are readily available from several sources, but others are a challenge to find. Yearbooks often contain these results, but they are not readily available. There are many gaps in the tables presented here, and it will be greatly appreciated if anyone who has the missing results can provide them. (see Missing Data).

While efforts are made to be accurate, there will be errors. Some will have occurred during the creation of the tables presented here, while others may have existed in the sources. As errors come to light, they are corrected.

Governing bodies:

Most of the international championships are governed by 3 federations or unions:

1. Motorcycle championships. The Fédération Internationale des Clubs Motocyclistes (FICM) was founded in 1904. It changed its name to Fédération Internationale Motorcycliste (FIM) in 1949, and to Fédération Internationale de Motoclisme (FIM) in 1996. Until the late 1990s FIM governed both World and Continental championships, but passed on the latter to specific continental unions:

-Union Européenne de Motocyclisme (UEM)

– Now FIM-Europe;

-Union Asiatique de Motocyclisme (UAM) – Now FIM-Asia;

-Unión Latinoamericana de Motociclismo (ULM) – Now FIM-Latin America;

-African Motorcyling Union (AMU) – Now FIM-Africa;

-FIM-North America;

-FIM-Oceania.

2. Automobile Championships. The Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) was founded in 1904. It changed its name to Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in 1946. It governs World and Continental championships, and sanctions some other championships without formally naming them as FIA events.

3. Powerboat and Aquabike Championships. In 1907 the Association Internationale du Yachting Automobile was created, and renamed Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) in 1927. It governs World and European championships.

4. Airsports. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) was created in 1905, and governs airsport activities.

In addition, some international championships not governed by these bodies are included.

Notes:

Layout: The governing of most of the motorcycle and watercraft championships is clearcut between classes and regions. Motorcycle results are presented according to the motorcycle/ track types (Road/Circuit; Motocross; Track; Trial; Enduro/Cross Country) for World and each continent. Powerboat and Aquabike results are presented under World and European headings

For automobiles, the FIA governs both World and Continental series, and because there are many non-FIA series, and the number of championships for different classes, the results are presented according to vehicle type (Open Wheel, Sportscars, Rallies, Touring Cars/ Trucks) to give a more balanced appearance.

Nationality of Rider/ Driver. For most, the nationality is clear-cut. But some have dual or triple nationality; sometimes these have changed during their careers. Different sources give one or the other. In the tables here, more than one nationality is indicated in cases where the competitors are recorded under different nationalities. Some confusion can occur where the license country is used in some sources – in this website, the nationality is preferably used.

Contact

If you have anything information that will fill in gaps, or correct errors, I can be contacted by email: Johndag49@gmail.com