It was formerly named Superside when the sidecars moved from being part of Grand Prix Motorcycles racing to being support events for the Superbike World Championship.

The championship is raced over a number of rounds at circuits mainly in Europe, although other venues have been included in United States (Monterey), South Africa at Kyalami and Australia's Phillip Island.

[1] When developments in dolphin and dustbin fairings on solo machines proved successful at reducing drag, it was natural to adapt similar streamlined enclosures for the sidecar outfits.

A pioneer in this area was Eric Oliver who worked with the Watsonian company on the development of successive experimental racing outfits including such innovations as the use of 16 in (410 mm) diameter wheels.

It began when George O'Dell won the championship using a Hub-center steering sidecar (built by Rolf Biland) called the Seymaz.

O'Dell won despite the Seymaz being rarely raced during the season in favor of using a traditional Windle frame for much of the year.

In 1980, due to the revolutionary changes being made by the constructors to their designs, the FIM banned all sidecar prototypes because it was concerned that the developments were turning passengers into non-active participants, and the machines were ceasing to resemble motorcycles.

Likewise sidecars that are outside of the technical rules are permitted to compete in races but their results, points or finishes are not recorded.

All chassis are purpose built and owe more to open wheel race car technology and the tires are wide and have a flat profile.

The most successful chassis is LCR, the Swiss sidecar maker, whose founder Louis Christen has won 35 championships between 1979 and 2016, with a variety of engines, originally Yamaha and Krauser two-strokes, more lately Suzuki four-strokes.

In 2014, for the first time a Kawasaki-powered machine won the title with Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze ending an 11-year consecutive Suzuki run.

1949   Oliver - Jenkinson 1950   Oliver - Dobelli 1951   Oliver - Dobelli 1952   Smith - Clements / Nutt 1953   Oliver - Dibben 1954   Noll - Cron 1955   Faust - Remmert 1956   Noll - Cron 1957   Hillebrand - Grunwal 1958   Schneider - Strauß 1959   Schneider - Strauß 1960   Fath - Wohlgemuth 1961   Deubel - Hörner 1962   Deubel - Hörner 1963   Deubel - Hörner 1964   Deubel - Hörner 1965   Scheidegger - Robinson 1966   Scheidegger - Robinson 1967   Enders - Engelhardt 1968   Fath - Kalauch 1969   Enders - Engelhardt 1970   Enders - Kalauch / Engelhardt 1971   Owesle - Kremer / Rutterford 1972   Enders - Engelhardt 1973   Enders - Engelhardt 1974   Enders - Engelhardt 1975   Steinhausen - Huber 1976   Steinhausen - Huber 1977   O'Dell - Arthur / Holland 1978   Biland - Williams 1979A   Biland - Waltisperg 1979B   Holzer - Meierhans 1980   Taylor - Johansson 1981   Biland - Waltisberg 1982   Schwärzel - Huber 1983   Biland - Waltisberg 1984   Streuer - Schnieders 1985   Streuer - Schnieders 1986   Streuer - Schnieders 1987   Webster - Hewitt 1988   Webster - Hewitt / Simmons 1989   Webster - Hewitt 1990   Michel - Birchall 1991   Webster - Simmons 1992   Biland - Waltisberg 1993   Biland - Waltisberg 1994   Biland - Waltisberg 1995   Dixon - Hetherington 1996   Dixon - Hetherington 1997   Webster - James 1998   Webster - James 1999   Webster - James 2000   Webster - Woodhead 2001   Klaffenböck - Parzer 2002   Abbott - Biggs 2003   Webster - Woodhead 2004   Webster - Woodhead 2005   Reeves - Reeves 2006   Reeves - Reeves 2007   Reeves - Farrance 2008   Päivärinta - Karttiala 2009   Birchall - Birchall 2010   Päivärinta - Hänni 2011   Päivärinta - Hänni 2012   Reeves - Hawes 2013   Päivärinta - Hänni 2014   Reeves - Cluze 2014 F2   Reeves - Cluze 2015   Streuer - Koerts 2015 F2   Reeves - Farrance 2016   Päivärinta - Kainulainen 2016 F2   Birchall - Birchall 2017 Birchall - Birchall2018 Birchall - Birchall2019 Reeves - Wilkes2021 Schlosser - Fries2022 Ellis - Clément2023 Ellis - Clément