Active and passive aerodynamics in high-performance motorcycle racing: a systematic review and evidence map following PRISMA 2020 methodology (2018–2025)

Aerodynamics has become the primary performance differentiator in motorcycle racing since 2018, under constraints absent from four-wheeled motorsport: lean angles beyond 60°, an exposed rider contributing about 40% of frontal area, and a regulatory framework that repeatedly redirects innovation. Following PRISMA 2020, we screened 3,842 deduplicated records from 11 databases (January 2018 to August 2025) in duplicate (Cohen’s \(κ = 0.87\) ), appraised the 342 included studies with a 20-criterion engineering framework, and synthesized 147 of them with random-effects models. Reported lap-time gains averaged 0.52 s (95% confidence interval 0.43–0.61; \(I² = 68%\) ) and MotoGP prototypes reached \(50 ± 3.2\) kg of downforce at 300 \(\, {km\,h⁻¹}\) , with full-vehicle drag coefficients falling from 0.55–0.60 to 0.38–0.42. Three methods account for most of that gain: multi-element external winglets, flow channeling integrated into the fairing envelope, and venturi-type ground-effect underbodies that supply cornering downforce at lean angles where wings lose effectiveness. The same devices accompany reported reductions in high-side (23%) and front-end-loss (31%) incidents, but concurrent electronic-aid deployment prevents causal attribution. A taxonomy of six technology families spans TRL 9 (external winglets) to TRL 2–3 (bio-inspired surfaces). Because aerodynamic force scales with \(v²\) , these benefits are 5–36 \(×\) smaller at legal road speeds.