In the next few pages, I tour the countries of the world that have a motorsports industry. Starting on the pole position is the United States, the world's largest motorsport industry. Also starting towards the front of the starting grid are the United Kingdom (Great Britain), Japan, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and Australia. These are all high-income countries with a motorsports heritage and, for the most part, a large presence of domestic, automotive OEMs.

Towards the middle of the grid are motorsport countries without a history of racing or prominent, domestic OEMs. These include the "BRIC" countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, but also South Korea and Mexico.

Canada, South Africa, and several European countries (e.g, Belgium, Finland, Austria) could also be included in this group. These are all countries with some motorsports history but, for the most part, they are lacking domestic producers of motor-related products (OEMs) like the USA, Germany, Japan, and others at the front of the grid. For example, the top 10 cars made in Canada are all American (Dodge, Ford, Chevy) or Japanese (Toyota, Lexus, Honda) makes.

Finally, starting at the rear of the field is a mix of countries with new motorsports industries and potential. Some have taken off, while others haven't had as much motorsport success. These include a mix of Asian countries from the Middle East (Bahrain, Qatar, UAE) and Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Thailand).

The rest of the word comprises about 120 or so countries with no motorsports history or production-side of the industry. That said, increasingly, the rest of the world are new and potential consumers of motorsport across the world. Where in the world will motorsports be in 20 years?

Below is a proportional symbol map that shows the number of research papers published in scientific journals for the countries of the world. The bigger the circle means the more published papers and smaller circles mean fewer papers published. Although this doesn't directly relate to motorsports, it is highly correlated with many of the countries listed in the preceding paragraphs. This makes sense given the high-tech nature of motorsports. On the production side, constructors/suppliers, mechanics, and engineers utilize years of math and science training. This is why the core of the production side of the motorsports industry is found in these countries with the best schools, training, and research.
Scientific Paper Trail