Contents
- Motorsport participation statistics: JAF licences, clubs, and events in Japan
- Motorsport participation statistics: Japanese kart licence categories and regional distribution
- Motorsport participation statistics: New Zealand competitors, licences, and officials
- Motorsport participation statistics: New Zealand club membership and gender patterns
- Motorsport participation statistics: FIA young women programme participation and experience
- Motorsport participation: programme participation, barriers, and pathways
- Sources
Motorsport participation statistics: JAF licences, clubs, and events in Japan
Participation can be counted in several ways: licences issued, registered clubs and organizations, and sanctioned competitions. Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) publishes all three kinds of measures, but they describe different parts of the sport. A licence count is not necessarily a count of unique people, while an event count does not indicate how many competitors entered. JAF’s 2025 figures give a useful snapshot of these distinct forms of organized activity.
JAF listed 45,808 four-wheel driver licences and 3,250 kart driver licences issued in 2025, for a combined 49,058 driver licences. It also recorded 877 four-wheel entrant licences and 225 kart entrant licences, totalling 1,102. Entrants are counted separately from drivers in the published categories; these figures should not be combined as though each represented a different participant.
| JAF licence category, 2025 | Four-wheel | Kart | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Driver licences issued | 45,808 | 3,250 | 49,058 |
| Entrant licences issued | 877 | 225 | 1,102 |
Source: JAF motorsport statistics
Official licences form another substantial category. JAF recorded 19,467 four-wheel official licences and 1,141 kart official licences, for a combined 20,608. The table also lists 1 four-wheel expert licence and 4 kart expert licences. These specialist entries appear alongside the driver, entrant and official categories in the overall total: 70,773 licences across four-wheel motorsport and karting in 2025. That is a count of licences, not a unique-person headcount; a person may hold more than one licence.
JAF’s fiscal 2025 organization records show 738 registered four-wheel clubs and 59 kart clubs, or 797 registered clubs altogether. A separate row lists 65 four-wheel organizations and 39 kart organizations, totalling 104. Combining clubs and organizations gives the reported total of 901. Keeping the two rows distinct matters: “clubs” and “organizations” are separate labels in JAF’s table, even though the final total adds them together.
The competition figures add an event measure. JAF recorded 614 sanctioned four-wheel competitions and 128 kart competitions in fiscal 2025. The source notes that closed events are included. These counts therefore describe sanctioned competitions recorded for the fiscal year, including those that closed, rather than only events still operating or a count of all motorsport activity in Japan. Source: JAF motorsport statistics
Motorsport participation statistics: Japanese kart licence categories and regional distribution
The kart statistics page breaks driver licences into domestic and international categories. In 2025, JAF recorded 1,505 domestic B licences and 1,061 domestic A licences. The junior categories were smaller: 172 Junior B licences and 47 Junior A licences. International categories included 440 E/F licences, shown as a combined class, and 25 international G licences. These are issuance counts within the categories as labelled; they do not by themselves describe the experience, age or competition level of the licence holders.
| JAF kart driver licence category, 2025 | Licences issued |
|---|---|
| Domestic B | 1,505 |
| Domestic A | 1,061 |
| Junior B | 172 |
| Junior A | 47 |
| International E/F | 440 |
| International G | 25 |
Source: JAF kart statistics
The regional table gives another view of kart licensing. Its 2025 total row lists 1,756 licences in Kanto, compared with 482 in Chubu and 482 in Kansai. The matching values for Chubu and Kansai are a feature of these reported counts; they should not be treated as evidence that the regions have identical karting communities or participation conditions. The figures represent all listed kart licence categories, rather than driver licences alone.
The same page includes entrant licences by domestic and international category. For 2025 it lists 173 domestic kart entrant licences and 52 international entrant licences. These entrant counts are distinct from the driver category breakdown above. The source notes that some applications whose region could not be identified are included in category totals, a limitation to bear in mind when reading regional distributions. Source: JAF kart statistics
Motorsport participation statistics: New Zealand competitors, licences, and officials
MotorSport New Zealand’s 2026 annual general meeting report describes 2025 participation with an annual competitor figure and a separate year-end licence count. The organization reported that 15,639 competitors took part in its sport during 2025. In the same participation narrative, it reported an overall injury percentage of 0.12% among those competitors. This is an organization-reported percentage associated with that annual competitor population; it is not a rate that can be directly compared with JAF licence totals, club membership or the FIA programme survey.
At the end of December 2025, MotorSport New Zealand reported 4,342 licences. This is a point-in-time year-end licence figure, whereas 15,639 counts competitors who took part over the year. The two measures have different periods and definitions, so their difference should not be read as a count of unlicensed participants. The annual report presents them as separate indicators of the sport’s activity and administration. Source: MotorSport New Zealand 2026 AGM report
Motorsport participation statistics: New Zealand club membership and gender patterns
MotorSport New Zealand’s club figures include both declared individual membership and the number of affiliated or member clubs. For the financial year ending 31 December 2024, its 2025 AGM report stated that 88 affiliated clubs declared a total individual club membership of 7,977. In its 2026 AGM report, the organization said it had 87 member clubs in 2025, down from 94 in 2021. These are report-specific club counts and a declared membership total; they do not form a continuous annual membership series.
A gender split chart in the 2025 AGM report supplies membership counts for 2020 through 2023. Male club membership was 7,138 in 2020, 8,015 in 2021, 8,985 in 2022, and 8,646 in 2023. Female club membership was 1,042 in 2020, 1,203 in 2021, 1,149 in 2022, and 1,205 in 2023.
| Year | Male club members | Female club members |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 7,138 | 1,042 |
| 2021 | 8,015 | 1,203 |
| 2022 | 8,985 | 1,149 |
| 2023 | 8,646 | 1,205 |
Source: MotorSport New Zealand 2025 AGM report
Across the years shown, the male series rises from 2020 to its listed high in 2022, then falls in 2023. The female series rises between 2020 and 2021, dips in 2022, and rises again in 2023. These chart values show changes in recorded club membership, not necessarily changes in the number of people participating in every form of motorsport. The report does not establish why the counts move, and the 2024 declared individual membership figure is a separate measure that should not be silently appended to the gender chart.
Club membership can indicate an organized connection to the sport, but it is not interchangeable with event attendance, competition starts, or active licence counts. The 2025 and 2021 club figures also come from the later AGM report’s comparison, while the 88-club and 7,977-member declaration refers to the year ending 31 December 2024. Preserving those periods and labels avoids implying that the measures all use the same definition. Sources: MotorSport New Zealand 2025 AGM report; MotorSport New Zealand 2026 AGM report
Motorsport participation statistics: FIA young women programme participation and experience
The FIA European Young Women Programme offers a programme-specific view of participation and experience. Its sociological survey says more than 1,200 young female participants aged 13–18 took part in programme events and phases across Europe in 2018 and 2019. The publication describes the European Young Women Programme and Girls on Track Karting Challenge; this participation count belongs to that programme context, not to all young people or all motorsport participants.
The survey’s “whole population” column reports that 64.1% of participants were rookies and 22% were competitors. It also gives a whole-population average age of 15.1 years. These measures offer different kinds of information: rookie status concerns previous involvement, competitor status describes a role, and average age characterizes the surveyed group. They should be read as attributes of the programme survey population rather than general estimates of motorsport participation.
The survey also reports that 33.1% of the whole population said their father had already practised motorsport. This is a reported family-background measure, not evidence that family experience caused participation. In the country summary, the whole-population column lists an average of 52 participants. That average is a survey summary value; it is not the programme’s overall participant count, which is reported separately as more than 1,200 across events and phases.
These findings are useful for understanding who took part in this particular programme and what experience participants reported. They do not establish the profile of all young women who race, all European motorsport participants, or participants outside the survey. Source: FIA European Young Women Programme sociological survey
Motorsport participation: programme participation, barriers, and pathways
The FIA survey’s whole-population summary lists “None” at 56%, cost of practice at 26%, and lack of venues at 12% among the three main reasons not to practise motorsport. The wording and context are important: these are responses in a programme-specific survey summary, not a representative ranking of barriers for the general public. The category “None” is retained as the source labels it; the figures should not be reframed as a complete account of why people do or do not enter the sport.
The same survey reports a whole-population satisfaction figure of 96%. Read alongside the experience measures, this describes a survey group that included many rookies as well as participants classified as competitors. It does not mean that 96% of all motorsport participants are satisfied, nor does the result identify which particular part of the programme produced satisfaction.
Together, the programme findings point to several observable dimensions of a participation pathway: taking part in introductory events, having previous motorsport experience or being a rookie, progressing into competitor roles, and encountering practical concerns such as cost or venue access. The survey provides counts and reported responses for its own participants, while JAF and MotorSport New Zealand provide administrative and membership measures for their respective settings. Each illuminates a different part of participation; none alone supplies a universal count of everyone involved in motorsport. Source: FIA European Young Women Programme sociological survey