Motorcycle side car racing involves a motorcycle rider and a passenger on a custom-built motorbike chassis creating a three-wheel vehicle. Older sidecar road racers generally resembled solo motorcycles with a platform attached, though modern racing sidecars are purpose-built vehicles.

The rider and a passenger work together as a team to make the machine perform optimally; the way in which the passenger shifts their weight across the sidecar is crucial to its performance around corners.

off-road motorcycle sidecar raceoff-road motorcycle sidecar race

Sidecar racing can be done on a dirt or road surface circuit. Sidecar racing has many sub-categories including: sidecarcross (sidecar motocross), sidecar trials, F1/F2 road racing, historic (classic) road racing.