sommdawg

Member
Jun 21, 2006
3
0
I just graduated from High School and my dream is to open a motocross park. I have some ideas but I was wondering if there are any managers out there that could tell me how many riders I would need per week or how much it would cost to start up or even the daily maintenance.

Any tips from owners or managers of parks would be great. Obviously I've got a lot of work ahead of me but I thought this forum couldn't hurt as a starting point.

Also if any riders know about how about many people ride daily at their local parks (and could let me know where the park is) that would be helpful. Thanks!
 

RS1441

Member
Jun 18, 2006
54
0
I dont have a motocross park as such i only have my own track but if you are to make a park the are legal things you would have to do. Like if you have people riding on your land you need them to sign forms so you dont get taken to court if some one falls off or somthing stupid (it happens) also i dunno about permission to build one on the land the laws might be dif were you are from. i dont know if this helps but on my track i am lucky that my uncle has a mini digger to keep the ramps up after they wear away but they can cost a fair bit to hire just to rebuild up the track after it is worn and if you have alot of people on it the track they wear pretty fast but then again if you had people paying it would prob work out. good luck if you do make one tho sounds cool. :cool:
 

nikki

Moto Junkie
Apr 21, 2000
5,802
1
I am no expert on this subject, not a park owner or manager, but I have been involved in helping with personal riding parks/clubs, running races, and we also have our own track.

Of course it would be our dream to have a track for a business, and we have other friends who would probably be jointly involved financially, but in our area, the county, zoning, and the residential land development would be a huge road block.

Anyways - here are some comments to your questions:

are any managers out there that could tell me how many riders I would need per week or how much it would cost to start up or even the daily maintenance.

There are several types of costs involved, for example:

-Fixed costs, such as the note and taxes on the land, insurance, equipment, etc.
-One time costs, such as cost of construction of the track and any park buildings, drive/parking area, etc.
-Variable costs, such as fuel, utilities, workers, portapotties, etc.

Your break even point on the number of riders needed per week will vary greatly based on these costs, primarily the note on the land, the insurance, and any equipment purchases/loans. For example, if you have a $600 land note, $400 for insurance per month, and $500 equipment loan, that is at least $1500 that you need to cover per month. So if you charge riders $10 a day, you'll need at least 150 riders in the month to cover your main fixed costs. Or at $15 per day, you'll need 100 riders in the month. Also, this isn't taking into consideration any of your other costs. And if you live in a place up north, you can forget about getting any riders in the winter months. Now if you are given the land, and already have an old tractor with a loader and a disc, and you just have to cover the insurance, you're in a lot better situation to do well.

Daily maintenance is all what you want to put into it.

If you want to groom every day, and purchase equipment (tractor/skidsteer/dozer, etc), your daily maintenance will include fuel, maintenance (hoses, filters, oil changes, etc.), and repairs on your equipment. Plus you'll have the added equipment costs.

If you want to get a well, and pump water, then tack on the costs of digging a well and getting electric service and the electric used to pump the water, plus your fuel and equipment charges for the watering tank (or hoses and underground piping or whatever). Unless you have a pond/creek and can pump out of that with a gas powered pump.

If you want to groom only once/twice a month, and borrow/rent equipment, obviously the costs will be much lower.

Also if any riders know about how about many people ride daily at their local parks

Depends on where you're at. Around here (Chicagoland area), there are a few offroad places and MX tracks that are open almost every day of the week. I would guess the offroad places get a decent turnout on the nice weather weekends (maybe 40-100 riders a day), and a lighter turnout during the week (maybe 10-20 riders a day). The MX tracks might get a little more during the week and might hold races on the weekends. For example, we have a park, Joliet MX, that has night practice during the week, lighted SX and Peewee track, and a non-lighted MX track, and they might get closer to 30-70 riders at a night practice during the week. Of course, they have extra costs of the lights, and they do groom the tracks often. Then there are also MX tracks with selected open practice days, these get closer to 50-120 riders at each open practice.

You need to consider the populations of the towns near your proposed track area to get solid numbers. If you live in Utah, and there are 5 towns within a 25 mile radius, with an average population of 1,000 people each (5,000 people total), you're probably not going to make it. Now if you live in New Jersey and have 20 towns within a 25 mile radius, and the avg. pop. is closer to 4,000 per town (80,000 people total), you have a lot better chance of success.

There are other many other things to consider as well:

-Zoning - this is a tough one in our area. You will need to have the land zoned for a business, and lots of people don't like the noise, dust, heavy truck traffic, soil erosion, changing the natural drainage patterns, etc. that comes with a riding park. If you are close to a residential area or large estate homes or land for sale for residential purposes, you can probably forget about it.

-Incorporation/taxes - there is some legal stuff involved as well. For example, you will want to get a LLC set up so if something happens on the property, your personal assets can't be held liable. You will also want this for the business aspect, since you will need to report your earnings, and pay taxes on your net income (after write-offs). You may also need to pay someone to do your books.

-Insurance - this is another big issue. Depending on your area, and how you get connected, insurance has been skyrocketing for riding areas and race tracks. A few years back, we had set up a riding area as a "club" and carried insurance on the land as a recreational club, and it was fairly reasonable, around $1,000 for the year for X amount of members (around 25-30 I think), if I remember right. But from what I understand, insurance rates now may be almost that for a month, depending on how you get the coverage set up.

-Workers - if you're going to be open several days, don't forget about having workers (take money, work the track, flaggers if a mx track, etc.)

-Advertising/Promotion -you'll have to spend some money to make some money when it comes to getting the word out. Also consider any competition in the area. If you open up, and another park opens up down the street, you're in for a long road.

-Land Choice - consider the land choice carefully, type of soil, trees/shade, elevation changes, digging opportunities for dirt, ponds/creeks for pumping water (with no well), access/parking, the future of the area, etc. Finding that perfect piece of land is very difficult!

-Fees/Memberships - some places around here charge a yearly membership, plus a riding fee per day. Others just charge per day. The membership may help recover some of your fixed costs in the earlier stages. For example, a $30 yearly membership fee, and $10 a day to ride. If you get 300 different riders for the year, there is $9,000 just from the memberships to help cover the bigger fixed costs. Plus $10 every time those "members" come to ride. I think the membership thing can also play part in how the insurance policy is drawn up.



That was more than you asked for, and I'm sure I'm forgetting several other important things to consider - but this should get your wheels turning. Good luck! :ride:
 
Last edited:

Offroadr

Ready to bang some trees!
Jan 4, 2000
5,227
25
Where is Wardy????
 

sommdawg

Member
Jun 21, 2006
3
0
These guys just did it over the last few years...starting to get it to the point of a really nice facility. There is an interactive forum on their site monitored by the folks that built and run the place,
Do you know what the website is? I can search if you don't know off hand
 
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