The following is an overview of the events of 1951 in motorsport including the major racing events, motorsport venues that were opened and closed during a year, championships and non-championship events that were established and disestablished in a year, and births and deaths of racing drivers and other motorsport people.
The calendar includes only annual major non-championship events or annual events that had own significance separate from the championship. For the dates of the championship events see related season articles.
| Date | Event | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28–29 April | 18th Mille Miglia | [1] | |
| 30 May | 35th Indianapolis 500 | [2] | |
| 6–8 June | 33rd Isle of Man TT | [3] | |
| 23–24 June | 19th 24 Hours of Le Mans | [4] | |
| 9 September | 35th Targa Florio | [5] |
| Date | Month | Name | Nationality | Occupation | Note | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January | Hans-Joachim Stuck | German | Racing driver | 24 Hours of Le Mans winner . World Endurance champion (1985). | [6] |
| 22 | Fulvio Bacchelli | Italian | Rally driver | 1977 Rally New Zealand winner. | [7] | |
| 15 | February | Markku Alén | Finnish | Rally driver | World Rally champion . | [8] |
| 15 | June | Alain Ambrosino | French | Rally driver | 1988 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire winner. | [9] |
| 7 | August | Jorge Recalde | Argentine | Rally driver | 1988 Rally Argentina winner. | [10] |
| 8 | October | Timo Salonen | Finnish | Rally driver | World Rally champion . | [11] |
| 3 | December | Rick Mears | American | Racing driver | Indianapolis 500 winner (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991). | [12] |
| 14 | Joaquim Moutinho | Portuguese | Rally driver | 1986 Rally de Portugal winner. | [13] | |
| 31 | Kenny Roberts | American | Motorcycle racer | 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle racing World champion (-). | [14] |