enough room to build a track?

[jerry and sons]

I only have 1.5 acres of natural hilly terrian to build a track. do you think that it would be worth my effort and money to build a track. If so I would appreciate any and all input about design, spaceing between jumps, etc.
thanks

 

[CaptainObvious]

If you only have an acre and a half, how close are your neighbors? A track makes a lot of noise and a lot of dust. I'm over 1,000 feet from my cloest neighbor (the track being 1,500 feet - over a 1/4 mile!) and they have complained about noise, dust and smell.

BTW, to answer your question, I don't think you have enough room. My track alone is on 3 acres (400' x 300') and my longest straightaway is is short.

 

[MX-727]

A football field that they use for Supercross is 360x160. That works out to 1.3 acres. I'd say that if you build it right you could get a real nice track in there.

 

[gwcrim]

I live on about 2.5 acres and my boy rides his mini all over it. For me it's a tad small. But it's sure better than nothing! I'm going to put in a few little jumps just to make it interesting. We have adjoining woods and permission to ride in them. That helps a ton.

 

[FruDaddy]

I think you have room, but do be respectful to your neighbors. Keep the guest list small, and the hours of operation reasonable. If their cars are parked nearby, or you throw a lot of dust their way, water the track down well before you ride, at least the sections near the neighbors. I have a tiny practice track in the back yard for my son. I have older neighbors and live on about 1/2 an acre where my nearest neighbor is about 60 feet from one of the turns and he parks his truck very near my fence. Also, it doesn't hurt to just be friendly with the neighbors. If you get to know them, you might learn what they will complain about, and how to appease them.

 

[HajiWasAPunk]

FurDaddy, I just finished building a track on 1.5 acres and it turned out pretty good. We've got 2 jumps on it and 3 big berms. Here's some things to keep in mind that were the result of advice I got here and other places on the internet.
1. If you want a bilke the size of a 125 or bigger to make it out of 3 gear you need a stright away longer than 250 feet (400 is ideal)
2. The jumps face should be twice as long as it is high (if the jump if 5 feet tall it should start 10 feet from the peak). You can go steeper if you like but it gets harder as you do.
3. Table tops seem to last longer between grooming and are safer and great for building the kids confidence.

Let me know if you'd like any other help, we had a couple of ex-factory riders help us design the track. It took 97 dump trucks of dirt and we used an 8 yard bucket loader to build the whole thing. Here's a couple of pics....
http://public.fotki.com/kaebischer/the_new_practice_track/
The ppl saying you don't have enough room are crazy, imo :). Yeah, the more the better, but you can build a nice practice area on 1.5 acres.

 

[CaptainObvious]

A football field that they use for Supercross is 360x160. That works out to 1.3 acres. I'd say that if you build it right you could get a real nice track in there.

Most football fields don't have a house and driveway on 'em. Does your wife like having a front lawn?

 

[jerry and sons]

Yes there will be a house but no lawn, the lot is 100 % wooded and my grandparents are the neighbors so the dust and dirt is not a true problem. I could possible extend the track but I really wanted to keep it on my own property.

 

[FruDaddy]

Haji, I think you got confused, I am not building a track, I have a tiny track in my back yard. Jerry and sons was the one looking for advice, and yours is good. My longest straight is about 110 feet, which is good for 3rd on my sons 65. I am, however, thinking about putting in a track at my mother's place in the mountains, good elevation, but a lot of trees.

 

[robwbright]

One of the local tracks here is at the county fairgrounds and while I don't know exactly how big the property is, it CAN'T be more than an acre and a half. Nevertheless, its a fun track. Description:

Short start, 45 degree right, 180 degree left, small double, right 180 degree sweeper, probbaly 300 foot straight (i can get into 4th on 125 but I'm using 11/52 gearing) with small rhythm section, 180 degree right, small table, bigger table, 180 degree left, small double double, step up about 6 feet tall, 90 degree right, 90 degree right, 8 whoops, 40 foot finish line double, back to start, 180 degree right into the first 180 degree left.

This is a GREAT track for 80s and under. Anything over a 125 is kindaof pointless, but we have a good time with it.

Rob

 

[jerry and sons]

I know that 1.5 acres is not a lot of room for speed and straights but I would just like somewhere that I don'd have load up the truck and drive to. I am just looking to get a place that I can practice my riding skills. I know that i will not be able to ride the 250 to the fullest of its ability but I just want to improve my riding with ou haveing to drive an hour everytime I want to ride.
I have obligations to the wife and family first, but I figure that if I have my own little area I can go whenever I want.

 

[Speedfreek]

body armour

edit edit edit

 

[jerry and sons]

Thanks for your constructive help Speedfreak! :blah:

 

[moore_716]

I have a track on 1.5 acres and it's pretty cool. I've built the whole track by myself. I probable have around 100 hours just in the actual track building all on a skid loader. I've had riders of all skill levles on my track with 250's and 450's. You aren't going to be able to build a fast outdoor track like a national track. As long as you realize this you won't have any problems. Depending on yur skill level yu will basically be building an outdoor arena cross track. Lap times on my track run 1.15 min. Some type of an exagerated horseshoe design is what you will most likely end up with. If dirt isn't an issue build tabletops and step up's and down's. If you have natural terrain you can build jumps going down the hills and then back up. You have plenty of room to build a nice track you just have to decide what you want on it and if you have the equipment to keep it up. A hardpack track should last a year depending on the amount of time it sees. Also things like whoops really need maintenance even on hardpack because they wear down fast. I have 2 65' doubles and an 80' (possible) downhill leap.

 

[OTHG_DAVE_858]

Check out the arenacross tracks, you can buid 2 of them on an acre. As a matter of fact look at the Albany ny track at www.arenacross.com and open the area for ticket sales. If you can blow it up large enough you can get the dimensions. its only 160 x 240. Let me know how ya make out. Leave out the start and make more jumps. Dave

 

[jerry and sons]

Not able to make out the jump set ups but it does give me hope. Keep the good info coming. Thanks ;)

 

[sick 96 250]

you might also want to check out this site, it will explain a few things a little more......

http://www.dirtwurx.com/

If you need more people to help you when time comes let me know, your not far from me at all. Just give me a little advance of notice

 

[jerry and sons]

Thanks Sick, I am in the process of building the house on the lot right now. My plan was to keep the dirt from the foundation hole for later use on the track. When it gets a little closer I will need all the help that I can get. The lot has a whole lot of trees and stumps that will need to go. Thanks for the offer.

 

[wanaride]

Jerry, I'm in the same boat as you; building a house and have about an acre or so behind it for a track so me and the kids can practice riding skills. Please keep updating this thread so I can follow your progress.

Do you have your own earth moving equipment, or will you rent?

 

[jerry and sons]

I have access to a neighbors kubota but I will have to rent a back hoe to do the heavy moving.

 

[moore_716]

Jerry and sons, here's something to keep in mind. You are probably going to need double the amount of dirt that you estimate. Between packing the jumps down and the dirt that falls away to the sides you will be surprised. You may want to consider saving the trees you have to cut and bury them. If you take off the branches and then stack them you can then cover them with dirt. This will make your dirt go alot farther.

 

[jerry and sons]

Lord knows that I will have alot of trees. Good thinking!

 

[tedkxkdx]

Something that they do in England is use round hay bales and pile them up for table tops. It is definately weird to land on the top since they have some give in the soil like landing on a mattress. I think a good LEARNING SET of jumps is two jumps right next to each other and a berm turn at one end and a rutted flat turn at the other.
For doing a lot of honing having the two table tops at around 35 and 50 ft do well and a run up of 50 feet for a 250 is plenty for those jump lengths. It lets you experiment with differing body and throttle positions, pre-jumping, and other more advanced skills like corner speed and clutching to shift gears or build rpm if you are having time clearing the jumps. By having the jumps side by side the dirt falling in the middle is moot. You are basically left with a loop. I think the left hand corner exit and jump is the most fun since you can use your rear brake longer in the corners/practice not using brake too. As your skill improves and you can start to land on the flat passed the landing ramp you can change the take-off ramp so it is steeper. Just changing this by several degrees or creating a kicker lip dramatically changes the jump you were used to.
I had a sx track in England and it sat on 1.2 acre with 8 lanes and 11 jumps. It was a big horseshoe as someone spoke of and all the jumps were inside it. Every corner inside the shoe was a 180 berm turn.

 

[FruDaddy]

For a personal track, crossing over itself and reversal turns can also help maximize space and dirt. Turning around makes every turn into two and also doubles the number of jumps. It just takes a little more planning to make it safe. on an 8 ft wide track, you can ramp steeply up the side and shoot for height. It might even help with whips. For my son, I just piled up dirt and let him figure out how to hit it. It has been growing ever since.

 

[moore_716]

A couple of things I did on my track are as follows: (1) The first time I built my track I made jumps to tabletops. They were about 5' faces 10' gaps and 20' tables. this left the option of clearing everything, landing on top of the table, or rolling the takeoff and then jumping just the table.(2) The next time I added about 1' to the takeoffs and moved them back around 2-3'. I took about 5' from the front of the table (increasing the gap) and added it back on the backside of the landing. I made them like 2 gradual stair steps. Kind of a jump to a double step down. Now depending on your speed you have 2 landings so it's not that rough. All of my jumps have long smooth landings. When I measure a jump I measure it from the base of the takeoff to 1/2 way down the landing. I have several jumps that now measure 60'-70'.(3) This time around I'm filling in the gaps and increasing the jump lengths. I've found that for some reason I like steep jumps so that's what I'm building. They are very unforgiving so I don't recommend it though. Stick with the rule of 2' of run-up for every 1' of height. A 6' lip should have a 12' run-up. I have a 60' uphill double like this but with only 10' of run-up. It's fun and scary at the same time. Anyway these are just some ideas.