how to build a practice track

[splinter]

i want to start racing mx. but i would like to build a track to practice on. i live ona 200 acer dairy farm and got feild timbers to build and ride in. and have the equipent to use to buil da track i just need to know how to build a track. what i need to inlcude and how many and how to build the stuff. how to build and how many whoops how to build doubles table top ext so space between height width al that good stuff. it will b great ly apreciated

[throwinitup]

if you have motocross madness 2, you can build a track on the computer then race on it...but...go talk to some of the ppl who own tracks around ur house...draw up what u want...you can make it however you want..i would make it technical, that way you will be ready for anything and be really fast...

[400EXracer74]

stop being lazy and just get out there. you have 200 acres just start building stuff. anything and everything. dont design a track on a video game. unless your really really good with machinery your gonna have a hard time duplicating it. make stuff as long as long as u want. i built my track with a bob cat. jumps were easy but took a while. woops are hard really hard. youll want an excavator for woops. well if your good with an excavator then youll want that for woops if u got it. a front end loader would be good for the jumps. and an excavator for the berms. my track is pretty sick but it took 2 days to build a 35 foot double and a 45 foot double a berm and a crappy woop section cuz thats hard with a bobcat. bobcats are small. i wish i had a loader to build it but i dont have my lecense to drive the truck to get it to my house. just practice building stuff. build a jump then hit it. if theres something wrong touch it up. it just takes a good operator and a good amount of practice. if you need any pointers pm me ill help u out all i can. i wish i could buold it for you i love doing that stuff.

[throwinitup]

damn u dont gotta be a dick about it....jesus...the guy is tryin to get ppls views on what they would do... :o

[buildinitnow]

Start off with easy stuff. I started out with 4 singles, thats it. Then build your way up.
At the end i had a 80 foot double with a safety landing incase you come up short (the landing was a 20 foot table top so you would only really have to jump 60 feet to be safe), 40 foot step up, two smaller 30 foot doubles in a row, three singles, one landing on a the downside of a hill, a whoop section, huge berms, and some fairly descent straight aways. I made this motocross track portion on 4 acres of field to, with a skidsteer. Just make sure that you get a permit, if you need one. I had to demolish my track, I was riding on it every day. The town said that I didn't have a permit for a "race track". I had the 3/4 mile motocross track with 2 miles of track in the woods. The entire thing was on 16 acres. Man it was awesome.
To start building your track you need a place where you can get on and off safely. Designate these spots as the only entrance and exits, it will make everything alot easier when your buddies come over.
Then if you are a beginning rider just make small jumps then build them bigger and bigger. Don't start off to big or you will hurt yourself. Trust me it took me a while to get up to that 80 foot double. The first double I made scared the pants off me until i cleared it. Then i was free sailing from there.
Being on a dairy farm you should be accessible to a dump truck(most likely) this will make your life alot easier. One of my sponsors would bring in dirt whenever i needed it, so that was sweet.
I had to do some major renovating of an old garden that the owner of the house had before us. I was spending 4 hours a day sometimes just making the track sweet.
Another problem we encountered was the dust. We made a water wagon though that actually worked pretty well for the motocross part. We would go around the track two times putting the water down, then ride for a half hour with no dust.
Here's a tip: don't make your track a big circle. Put some tight corners, and some sweepers in. Have at least 4 U turns in there. Thats what i had but i was working with 4 acres to.
As for the faces of jumps make them nice and easy angles. Nothing severe like you see at supercross races or anything. Start with some easy angles and make you way up as your suspension gets better with aftermarket stuff.
Don't be suprised that when you are practicing everyday like i was, that you really start braking alot of stuff. I snapped works shocks in half, broke my handlebars just riding down the straightaway, i was just riding along and they broke( explain that one). I broke the mounts to the steering stem, fender brackets, lots of stuff.

[splinter]

thanks buildinitnow for all the advise i cant wait for the ground to unfreze so i can get started on my track

[hardkoratvmxr]

On my track all of quick turns are really choppy and has some little studder bumps. This helps you on your brake control. If you get good with your brake on a choppy surface when you get to a race track, no matter what the surface is you will be good at it because you will have good brake control. Unlike buildinitnow i would make your jump faces different angles. Not all of the jumps at a mx track are the same. I would put like 4 to 5 single jumps in a row far enough that where your skills are at now you wont be able to double. That way as you skills build you can learn to jump farther and if you decide that it is to difficult you can always tear them down. i would not build very big doubles yet. Build tabletops instead they are the easiest to master and once you are confident with them and land on the downside of them you can either take the middle oput and build another ramp or keep the tabletop. If you have some hills on the property that your building your track on the i would put a couple step-up and step-down jumps. These are hard to master and are a good skill builder. If you have the mopney a watering system would be a good idea since in the summer tiem it can get very dusty and neighbors will not like that. Whoops are very hard to make. I spent 3 weeks making mine and i only have 12. I would vary them in heighth ranging 1ft to 4ft, and different widths apart. If you need a better view go to http://www.douggust.com and click on videos and take the ride on his home track. He is the GNC Pro Production champion so i would think that he knows a thing or two and just read his tips and forums and see if you can get any pointers from that. Get pictures up when you are done with your track.

[JR3]

an area that we ride at has woop sections berms etc so we jus built a few jumps and came up with our own course

[JRDrider22]

where is your "homemade" track at?

[Knips178]

I don't know about anyone else, but I tried a few times to plan out a track in advance and follow my drawings, but as soon as you start moving dirt around your plan just goes to hell. After about the third jump or corner the track just starts building itself.

When I tried doing whoops, i built them up pretty big at first and rode them for a week. then built them backup and so on. Eventually, they'll nice and packed.

Table tops are a ***** to make in my opinion. Takes so much dirt to make that by the time your working on the middle of the jump, you just want to hurry up and make a landing. I kept making the takeoff, then a long landing pad for safety instead of a full fledged tabletop.

I agree with making lots of braking bumps and tight turns, especially after long straights. I'm still working getting more space to do this, but what it does is makes you really work the clutch and brakes to get your *** around the corner and accellerate correctly out of the corner.

Any local track I've ever seen has a variety of takeoffs, so get used to being kicked forward over short steep jumps and holding your speed over long staighter takeoffs. Go for variety.

But, the best advise is make it more difficult technically then you would feel comfortable on. I'M NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD JUMP FARTHER OR FASTER THAN YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH. But make the jumps, corners, whoops and other aspects in places where you really have to work to get better to master. This makes you constantly improve. Then when you go to the race, you'll smoke everyone.

good luck

[splinter]

thanks all of u. u r going to make building this track easy and fun to build and ride. i really appreciate the help and opinions and ideas so keep them comin cuz they r great

[Knips178]

I wanna see some pics of this track as your building it.

Another good source for track building is watch lots of quad videos. I've noticed alot of cool layouts from just downloading any quad video's i can find. One of my personal favorites is the Jerimiah jones seen in huevos 5. There are some really technical sections of whoops and the way that track is laid out is sweet.
There are some cool jumps that lead into the whoops then some coming out. Watch that scene a few times and try to duplicate.

of course good luck.

[splinter]

well ill try to take pics of the track as i build it. i dont have a digital camera so ill have to c if sumone will let me use thers and ill have to figure out how to put the pics up on hear to but ill c what i can do. il take before during and after pics if i can get them.

[Knips178]

If you get any pics, let me know and I can post them.

do you know anyone with a scanner? take pics with your normal camera then scan them and email them to me.

[splinter]

ok sounds good ill get on this track as soon as i get done with wrestling and the ground unthaws and it warms up so i can dig and move the dirt around thanks for posting the pics

[One_Bad_400]

ive got a practec track at my lake house, we have 20ft. double, single then drop, strait away, 30ft. double, single, 10ft. double, do half the track over then tun and hit about 65ft. double, and this summer or spring break, make a rethumn section and woops, burms,

[Knips178]

sounds like a good track. I don't have any big open areas to work with so my track sort of darts in and out of woods, which makes it hard to duplicate a normal track.