Backyard mx track building advice

um, I would start being doing a search on the subject here. There are multiple discussions that have covered this topic.

Believe half of what you read.

The trick is knowing which half

See if you can measure the obstacles and distance between them at your buddy's track or other tracks you like, a golf range finder or laser tape is useful for this. Then you can have an idea of how far apart to layout the jumps.

trial & error. I'd probably get the layout down. Honestly i would not worry about that many jumps. don't have enough room. Just rollers, singles, hills, whoops. small jumps. maybe 1 booter. 

Feel free to PM me for any questions.  

I was self-employed building and /or designing private and public tracks for several years, domestically and internationally.   

 

I would do doubles with forgiving landings before tables. I know you said you can source dirt, but tables take up a ton of dirt and time, especially if you aren’t borrowing from hills or bottoms incorporated into the design. Just my two cents after moving way too much dirt in my life with way too small of equipment lol

Always let your buddies try it out first. 

Riding a turn track is still riding, which is better than not riding.

Arenacross style track works well on a smaller flat property, having jumps right out of the turns is good practice for carrying corner speed.   Short length won't matter if it's a handfull of guys. Can have different jump options for inside/outside in corners to prevent the track from being 1 lined.

Try to not build jumps in the direction of the setting sun because it's hard to see.

Turn tracks are excellent. They build a nice turn track at ClubMX. Seems to change a lot, but they include a few small jumps. Probably see them on their videos. 400x220 is bigger than a football field, maybe close to the area used by SX tracks in football stadiums? Look at the track maps for layout ideas, then add jumps or whatever to meet your skills.

No need to be an insufferable dick. 

I understand trying to condense but a 5-7 acre track will be a lot more fun and usable than a 2 acre track.  If you can do a perimeter type track to conserve land or something rather than a rectangle maybe that helps?

Corner track with some rollers is perfect IMO.  Jumps are just sketchy and more maintenance.  Fundamentals, corners and prepping once in awhile is where it’s at 

I would highly recommend riding whatever layout you come up with first before moving any dirt so you can confirm that it’s going to flow nicely together. I’ve built some sections before that I thought looked great but when I actually rode them, it was a different story. My other piece of advice is to keep in mind any low spots for rain water runoff. I know you said it’s relatively flat but if there are any dips at all, try to layout your lanes so the water will run off them sideways, not pool right in the middle of them. The tip earlier to consider the sun in your eyes in the evening was also some great advice. Good luck and have fun!! 

This tip is probably obvious to most but when I was younger I learned the hard way not to ever take dirt from the riding lane to build anything. Always grab dirt from the side of the lane…unless you want a Koi pond before the face of your jump.

You don't need jumps. I have way more fun on Washougals "grass" turn track than I do on the main track. It's far less risky and it makes me a better rider. Any idiot can jump. Corner speed is what makes the fast guys fast.

I would start out by riding the track in so that you can find something that flows.   Set up some markers to help you get it ridden in at first and keep in mind how wide you want it and set an inside/outside line.  Once that is done, then start to add obstacles.  

I built and rebuilt a bunch of MX tracks years ago while I was riding more. And recently have been building my own SXS track on mostly flat land. 

 My past experience with MX tracks is not as relevant as I expected it to be with a SXS.    After building a couple sections that would be amazing for a MX bike I found out they just didn't work for my SXS. So me being experienced in building tracks, and finding myself as a newby now with the flow for MTB and SXS stuff makes me feel like my method may help You.  

 So this is the part that will help You out.  I've started to layout the turns and straights and ride/drive them before building any berms or jumps. Then I'll go out during storms and just watch and take photos and video of where the water is naturally flowing.  And then as I build berms and jumps I keep that natural flow in mind and build things to help it. Hav things slope towards it and make sure any obstruction of the natural runoff has a way to drain so I'm not making puddles all over the place. 

   I leave new sections flat and use them for a while as I watch a few storms and figure out how the water h flows with my changes to the land. I've had to cut trees and clear brush so changing a corner or section is much more involved for me than it would be in a field.  So I drive or ride the sections for a while and see how fast each feels so I know where jumps and berms will flow.  I built one jump that is a super safe to learn how my SXS likes to jump and figure out how to shape the face for such a big vehicle.  Turns out it has to be less steep, and longer faces for a SXS to fly right. Now as I ad jumps I'm scraping material from between lanes and keeping track surface higher,  and so it directs the water in a similar way to how it was before I started to add jumps.  

 I've tried drawing a layout out  using a google earth or aerial image before and then make changes to flow with the real world land as I start cutting stuff in.   Since You have an open field. that is flat, You could find some  satellite images of a track You ride and use them to draw out a layout. That way You have an idea of how You want to lay the track out. I've printed out screenshots and hand drown layouts, and I've used photoshop to make them more accurate. 

 I have taken satellite images and scaled them onto satellite images of my property to see how a section might fit if I copy it from another track.  I use photoshop all the time and for me it's easy to make sure everything is accurately sized to give a realistic idea of how things will fit.  its not super difficult as long as You have a basic understanding of how to use a graphics software. You can grab a screenshot with  a measurement on the screen that You just make the same on each screen shot. Then size so the marks are the same if You need to. And You can get an accurate idea of how things will fit in Your space.  

This is a much better way of explaining the point I was trying to get across. Simply put, pay attention to how the water drains and do whatever you can to make sure your layout lets the water run off of your track, not pool onto it. 

You can by ribbon and little flags that are used for surveying and marking land,  on Amazon.  That way You could flag a layout to give You an idea of where to ride as You try out each section. The flags are pretty cheap , kinda small. So You would want to mow the grass before You mark it out. A good idea anyway to make sure Your not hitting anything hidden in the tall grass. 

I use the ribbon and tye to trees since I'm cutting sections in. But in a field something like these might work . I saw a 1000 pack for $75 but they were not as tall. The wire is pretty flimsy so its not something that would be super dangerous. It bends over if You hit them. I imagine if You hit or fell on one just right that it could be a problem. Normally they just bend over .

This site has some great high res aerial images available . Even if they do not show the town your in. Find one close to yours and it will often still have the images. Just without property lines.  I'm not sure if it has anything for canada. But I found it by searching for aerial images of the town and state where I live. I'm attaching an image of Southwick to show You the level of detail the images have VS Satellite stuff.  Its better when available. Cities and towns are using these site for property tax assessment. ANd permit enforcement. They use it to find decks and pools, sheds. Anything a permit should have been pulled for that  or improvements that would add value when they are figuring property tax.  Sucks, but the sites are also very useful for finding out elevation , wetlands, property lines and even some infrastructure depending what town Your looking at. 

 It has measuring tools so You can measure or mark and measure. Helps with scaling stuff. I used it when looking for the property I have now. I measured buildings before going to look at them and its pretty accurate. within inches  of what real work measurements were.  You can do the same thing with Google  earth and that covers everyplace. But images will be better if You can find aerial images VS satellite stuff.

https://mapgeo.io/

Also anybody that wants to see elevation on maps of their property. Look for Lidar maps .  It shows the contours in an easier to visualize way. Shading and highlighting instead of just the numbers and lines of a standard contour map.  This is one from Southwick. 

Some sites will allow You to make the images transparent and have the photo over the elevation contours to help You get a better idea of how it is. Again it's all US sites that I know of for this stuff. Maybe people that live in other countries can find ones for their area easier than I can with the way sites can be blocked for certain areas.  These are from a Ma website. Masgis  

It’s a lot easier to pay someone $20-30 to ride their track than make/maintain your own…if the area is currently grass/weeds get a tractor with a brush mower and cut in your idea of a track. Ride this in to see how it feels(as mentioned before). Soil tyoe makes all the difference. If you have sandy/loamy soil a turn track will develop natural whoops after riding in and is best case situation. Clay soils lend themselves to making arenacross/SX style tracks with flat corners and man made jumps. Good luck with whatever you do. I have ten acres and planned to make a track but keeping up with weeds and maintenance sucked. Now just have a grass turn track that I use more for walking the dog then riding and just ride other private tracks for a donation. Attached video of my turn track at one time. 
 

This the way. 

Decent tip/advice: The wheelbase on most motocross bikes is a touch or two under 60 inches.

Making sure your jump faces length exceed that number = jumps, and not kickers. 

This is how i did my track. Layout is important. You will want some bowl turns and some good jumps coming right out of them. I dont know your skill level , but big table tops are better than medium doubles in my opinion. Also, have a whoop section or some rollers is always a plus. I have added things in my track quite a few times. Had 20 15 tons loads of dirt brought in so i didnt have to rip up all my topsoil for a build. I used a skid steer for all of mine. Only so big you can make jumps with that. A dozer will be much better. If you have a tiller , you should be good for maintaining. 

Heres is my track in Hendersonville NC. Took these pics two days ago. 1/2 mile around with lots of turns and plenty of jumps too. Average lap times are 2 mins or 1:52 if i really try to fly.