Motorsport is a popular spectator sport in Australia, although there are relatively few competitors compared to other sports due to the high costs of competing. The oldest motorsport competition in Australia is the Alpine Rally which was first staged in 1921 followed by the Australian Grand Prix, first staged in 1928. The most widely watched motorsport category is Supercars, especially at the Bathurst 1000. Other classes in Australia include Australian GT, Formula 3 and Formula Ford (open wheel racing), Superbikes, as well as various forms (cars and bikes) of speedway racing.

Australia hosts a round of many major international series, including the Australian Grand Prix, a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, Rally Australia, part of the FIA World Rally Championship, and the MotoGP Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. Other international series, such as the World Superbike Championship, Speedway Grand Prix and Champ Car have held events in Australia.

Open-wheel racing Formula One The most popular event is the Australian Grand Prix, currently held at Albert Park in Melbourne. It is attended by more than 300,000 spectators per year and attracts free-to-air metropolitan television ratings, of over 1 million viewers, and is televised internationally as part of the Formula One World Championship.

The Australian Grand Prix has been run continuously (with the exception of 1936 and 1940–46 due to World War II) since 1928, though it did not become a round of the Formula One World Championship until 1985. For the first 11 years of F1, the Australian Grand Prix was held on the Adelaide Street Circuit in Adelaide, South Australia, as the last round of the championship. Adelaide played host to several title deciders; for example, the 1986 title, where Alain Prost successfully defended his championship after Nigel Mansell's left rear tyre exploded; the 1994 title was also decided in controversial circumstances, after Michael Schumacher collided with his rival Damon Hill, putting both out of the race and giving Schumacher his first of seven Formula One World Drivers' Championships by one point. In 1993 it was announced that from 1996 the Grand Prix would move to Melbourne at the Albert Park Circuit, replacing Adelaide as the host city. The move to Melbourne also changed the race's position in the calendar, with the Grand Prix becoming the opening round of the championship, a position it held until the pandemic (with the exception of 2006 and 2010).

No Australian driver has won the Australian Grand Prix since Alan Jones won at Calder in 1980 driving his Williams FW07B-Ford, and no Australian has finished on the podium since John Smith finished second in 1983. Since becoming a round of the World Championship in 1985 only 6 Australian drivers have actually raced in the Australian Grand Prix. They are Alan Jones (1985–1986), David Brabham (1990, 1994), Mark Webber (2002–2013) Daniel Ricciardo (2012–2022, 2024), Oscar Piastri (2023–), and Jack Doohan (2025).

Two Australians have won the World Driver's Championship: Jack Brabham, who won the title on three occasions, including becoming the first (and so far only) driver to win the World Championship in a car of his own design, manufacture and name when he won his final championship in driving the Repco V8 powered Brabham BT19 and BT20; and Alan Jones, who won in , giving Williams its first Drivers' and Constructors' championships. As of , Oscar Piastri (McLaren F1 Team) is the only starting Australian driver in Formula One. Of the 14 Australians who have driven in Formula One, only Brabham (14), Jones (12), Webber (9), Piastri () and Ricciardo () have won a Formula One Grand Prix.

Formula Three Australian Formula 3 has been the name applied to two distinctly different motor racing categories, separated by over twenty years. The original Australian Formula 3 was introduced in 1964 based on the FIA Formula 3 of the period and intended as a cost-efficient open wheel category to run at state level for amateur racers. It was discontinued at the end of 1977. Formula 3 was reintroduced to Australia in 1999, again based on FIA Formula 3. An Australian Formula 3 Championship was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport for the first time in 2001. Following the withdrawal of national championship status, an Australian Formula 3 Premier Series was contested in 2016.

Formula Four The Australian Formula 4 Championship is an Australian motor racing series for open-wheel cars complying with FIA Formula 4 regulations. The inaugural championship was contested in 2015. Formula 4 has been developed and certified by the FIA as the pre-eminent open-wheel development category across the globe; the critical step between elite junior karting, Formula 3 and ultimately Formula 1. Cameron McConville is the Category Director, with Karl Reindler as Driver Coach and Driving Standards Observer for the championship.

Formula Ford The Australian Formula Ford Series is an Australian motor racing competition for drivers of Formula Ford racing cars, held annually since 1970. From 1970 until 1992, and again from 2014, it has been a national series. From 1993 until 2013, the series was CAMS sanctioned and called the Australian Formula Ford Championship.

Karting Karting in Australia is undertaken on bitumen, dirt and speedway circuits. Consequently kart racing has a variety of administration bodies each holding their own national, state or local competitions. Karting is sometimes seen as a stepping stone to other classes of motorsport however it is also a class of motorsport pursued as a career because it is the most affordable, pure and fun form of motorsport.

Defunct series IndyCar Australia hosted the Gold Coast Indy 300 at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit from 1991 to 2008. The race was part of the CART series from 1991 until its final season in 2003, and part of the Champ Car World Series, the successor to CART, from 2004 to 2007. The final race to date at the circuit was an exhibition race under the sanctioning of the IndyCar Series, which had merged with the Champ Car World Series shortly before its 2008 season began. Australian Will Power is a two-time champion in the IndyCar Series, having won in 2014 and 2022. Ryan Briscoe drove in the IndyCar Series from 2005 to 2015, winning eight races, including the final race at Surfers Paradise.

A1GP Australia competed in the A1 Grand Prix championship from the series' establishment in 2005 until the end of its final season in 2009. Will Power was the most successful of the five drivers who have represented Team Australia to date, with a best result of second in the feature race at the series' inaugural round at Brands Hatch in 2005. Australia also hosted a round of the championship at Eastern Creek Raceway for the first three A1GP seasons.

Superspeedway From 1987 until 2001, the Australian Superspeedway series was held with both NASCAR and AUSCAR racing. Short track speedway racing on paved oval tracks in Australia had proved popular in the 1970s and 1980s with capacity crowds regularly seen at tracks such as the Liverpool Speedway in western Sydney and at the Tralee Speedway just outside of Canberra. In 1987, former motor racer turned multi-million dollar tyre retailer Bob Jane opened the AU$54 million Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne, the first NASCAR style high banked oval track built outside of the United States. Initially races were held only at the high speed, 1.801 km (1.119 mi) Calder Park track, but soon also used the ½ mile Speedway Super Bowl located at the Jane owned Adelaide International Raceway as well as various road racing circuits on Australia's east coast. The NASCAR and AUSCAR series proved popular with crowds over the summer months with capacity attendances of up to 45,000 at Calder and 15,000 in Adelaide. AUSCAR ran from 1987 to 1999 while NASCAR series ran from 1989 to 2001.

Circuit racing Touring cars In 1987, Australia hosted two rounds of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship for Group A touring cars. These were the Bathurst 1000 at the Mount Panorama Circuit which was won by Australians Peter Brock (his 9th and last Bathurst 1000 victory), Peter McLeod and David Parsons driving a Holden Commodore.Uniquecarsandparts – 1987 James Hardie 1000 The other round was an on-off 500 km race held on a combined road/oval course at the Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne.

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship (known as the Repco Supercars Championship for sponsorship purposes and often shortened to just Supercars or its long-standing name V8 Supercars) is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations.

Supercars events take place in all Australian states and the Northern Territory, with the Australian Capital Territory formerly holding the Canberra 400. An international round is held in New Zealand, while events have previously been held in China, Bahrain,Clarke, Wensley (2007), p. 16 the United Arab Emirates and the United States.Greenhalgh, Howard, Wilson (2011), p. 503 A Melbourne 400 championship event is also held in support of the Australian Grand Prix. Race formats vary between each event with sprint races between 100 and 200 kilometres in length, street races between 125 and 250 kilometres in length, and two-driver endurance races held at Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast. The series is broadcast in 137 countries and has an average event attendance of over 100,000, with over 250,000 people attending major events such as the Adelaide 500.

The vehicles used in the series are loosely based on road-going cars. Cars are custom made using a control chassis, with only certain body panels being common between the road cars and race cars. To ensure parity between each make of car, many control components are utilised. Starting in 1993, all cars were required to use a 5.0-litre naturally aspirated V8 engine. Originally only for Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores, the New Generation Supercar regulations, introduced in 2013, opened up the series to more manufacturers. Nissan were the first new manufacturer to commit to the series with four Nissan Altima L33s, followed by Erebus Motorsport with three Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs. Volvo entered the series in 2014 with Garry Rogers Motorsport racing the Volvo S60. After the 2015 season, Erebus Motorsport discontinued their use of Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs and elected to run Holden Commodores, ending Mercedes short spell in the category. A year later, Volvo withdrew their Volvo S60s, leaving Garry Rogers Motorsport to run Holden Commodores. In 2017, Supercars introduced the 'Gen2' rules, allowing for teams to utilise engines with 4 or 6 cylinders as well as turbochargers. This was the first time these engine configurations were made available since the end of the Group A era in 1992, however as of 2019 all teams still use 5.0-litre V8s. In 2019, the Ford Falcon XR8 was discontinued and was replaced by the Ford Mustang GT, though highly modified. This was the first time the Mustang had competed in the Australian touring car scene in 30 years. , the only models left competing are Ford Mustang GTs and Holden ZB Commodores.

Sportscar racing