Building public mx track

[WoodTRD]

I've been offered a pretty awesome deal, my boss wants me to design and build a motocross track on 20 or so acres of an 80 acre tract of land he owns. The plan is to build a local atv mx practice track on about 20 acres, a peewee track next to it, and a mud bog for all the 4x4's.

The land is in a rectangular shape and borders a national forest, so noise won't be an issue. It has a slight slope falling away towards the national forest (maybe 3' over 300 yards or so) that should help with drainage, other than the slight slope it's relatively flat. It's already fenced and gated, so keeping people out when closed won't be a problem. He already has a dozer, bobcat, tractors, water truck, excavator, dump truck, and a pit to haul clay dirt from.

My questions are mostly on the legal and design aspects of a track...would a well written waiver be enough to protect the owners from a lawsuit, or is insurance mandatory? Anyone have any experience with running a track from a legal standpoint or know what most tracks do to protect themselves from liability? We're planning on starting it out as a practice track and maybe holding races in the future if everything goes well.

As far as actually building the track, the land is pretty flat so almost all of the dirt will have to be hauled in, but we have a pit and dump truck for that. I've read tons of info and looked at many track layouts, but everything was geared towards bikes. I'm guessing I would need to make the jumps a little shorter and the launches not quite so steep for quads. Due to safety considerations with it being a public track I'll be planning most of the jumps to be singles, tabletops, and maybe a safety triple (single with a tabletop landing) thrown in for those that want big air. I'm planning on doing a rough sketch on paper and then transferring the basic layout to the dirt. Anyone have any ideas on a fun, safe track design?

Thanks for any help, ideas, or feedback, we're in the very early planning stages right now.

[slightlybent47]

Here is my 2 since worth.
First thing is you have a ton of work to do before you even move one load of dirt.
You need to have your boss get with his lawyer and get all the permits and legalities out of the way. Try getting a copy of a waver from another track and use that as a base to work with. Once you have permits in hand and your waver worked out then the real fun begins. Absolutely none of the tracks I have ever been to provide insurance for riders or any visitors that come in. even with a good waver in hand you will need a lawyer on retainer because someone will be suing you in the future.(count on it).
Next comes the lay out of the track, it is a good idea to make it as safe as you can and still make it fun and interesting. Table tops are good as long as they have a long tapered run out on the down side. A small short whoop section is good but keep it small and short. Try laying it out so you can change it up with minimal effort, also consider digging a pond or small lake because you will need a lot of dirt, and I mean a lot! So on site dirt will be better. Also you can use the pond to store water to use on the track. And when you’re done with the track you can push the dirt back in the pond and have little impact on the land.
Try to work with the lay of the land so all your drainage goes into the pond for water storage and to keep run off from going next door. Also consider parking and camping when you do your lay out and leave room for expansion.
People who complain that there are not enough tracks around, have no idea of what it takes to build and run a track.
I hope at least some of this helps you out, but in order to keep it short I’ll stop now.

Good luck and if you get it up and running let us know, I live in Tx so your not that far away, will come and ride it for you.

[WoodTRD]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm waiting on them to get with their lawyer to find out about any permits or other red tape we'll have to deal with now, before I tear up the farm land for nothing. I'll try to get a copy of a waiver to base ours on as well.

I think digging a pond will be the way to go as far as getting the dirt, even though the pit is only 2 miles away it would still save a lot of time back and forth to there and loading the dump truck. I'm assuming I could push up the dirt from the pond with a dozer, and carry it to where its needed on the track with the bobcat.

THIS (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=&sll=31.042258,-92.05701&sspn=5.157624,14.128418&ie=UTF8&ll=30.961676,-93.222953&spn=0.00437,0.010986&t=h&z=17) Is the land I have to work with, the whole block is 80 acres, I'm looking at trying to stay on about the northwest 20 acres of it with the mx track.

Thanks again for the input, hopefully everything will go smoothly and we'll get it built this spring, I'll definitely let you know.

[rpfeifer11]

Sounds like a great idea except you are going to be doing a ton of back and forth trips if you are hauling all of the dirt from the pond with a bobcat. I hope it has the 2 speed haha

[WoodTRD]

Yea I was thinking about that, for the tabletops that will be LOTS of back and forth trips haha...I have access to a backhoe too, that should be a little better. I'm sure we'll figure something out. Main thing at this stage is getting all the legal stuff out of the way and designing the track. I'm planning on drawing how I want it laid out, then staking out the track features before I start hauling the dirt.

[slightlybent47]

Use the back ho to dig the pond and load the dump truck, truck the dirt where you need it and spared and shape with the dozer and skid steer. If your going to make it wide enough to race side by side or have any room to pass then it will take three times the dirt then it would to make a narrow one lane track. One 50 foot table 20 feet wide and 6 feet tall will take about 50 - 14 yard truck loads alone. Then if you want high bank turns that will take lots of dirt as well. Now here is where you get to use that geometry you learned in school and swore you would never need.lol Convert your feet to yards and go length x width x height to get the cubic yards you need for a jump, less the tapered sides.

[slightlybent47]

Also remember that a 10 foot pile of dirt will settle into an 8 foot pile after it sits for awhile.

[TCracin440ex]

i dont know anything far as the leagle aspect of it. and if i was you id consult dan who runs breezewood proving grounds. he can probally tell you what all would be needed far as that. and could prob shed more light on the whole track building subject moreso then anybody because he owns, operates, and builds tracks at BPG so if i was you id def be sending him a PM http://www.exriders.com/vbb/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=29097

[HondaATC500X]

I owned one of the most popular tracks in North Florida for about 6 months before we got shut down by the county back in 07-08. Send me a PM and we can talk on the phone. If after talking to me your still so sure you want to do it then more power to you but I have horror stories you cannot believe....a lot more to it than just moving dirt and posting flyers, trust me.

[mxduner]

Originally posted by rpfeifer11
Sounds like a great idea except you are going to be doing a ton of back and forth trips if you are hauling all of the dirt from the pond with a bobcat. I hope it has the 2 speed haha lmao. buddy borrowed me a 773 with tracks. i logged 40 hrs on it digging out an already dug out pond for a table top next to the pond.

[trailrider894]

Originally posted by mxduner
lmao. buddy borrowed me a 773 with tracks. i logged 40 hrs on it digging out an already dug out pond for a table top next to the pond. Don't forget that the pond doubles as a resevoir for watering the track!!! But i don't know what the phrase " borrowed me a 773" means... ? kinda hickish talk?

[mxduner]

Originally posted by trailrider894
Don't forget that the pond doubles as a resevoir for watering the track!!! But i don't know what the phrase " borrowed me a 773" means... ? kinda hickish talk? lol yea it wa used for watering. and the 773 is a bobcat model skid loader. sorry bro

[trailrider894]

Originally posted by mxduner
lol yea it wa used for watering. and the 773 is a bobcat model skid loader. sorry bro

ha ha thats not what i meant. I know what the 773. ha ha nvm.

[WoodTRD]

slightlybent - Thanks for the info, I'll have to keep that in mind when we start, seems like its going to take a mountain of dirt...good thing we'll be able to get it on site. I'm guessing if when I start digging the pond I see that there's not some clay under the topsoil I'll need to haul in the dirt for the face of the jumps from the pit.

TCracin - Thanks, I'll shoot him a pm

HondaATC500x - Thanks for the offer, I'll pm you shortly.

I talked to my boss about it a little bit today, he's still fired up about it but hasn't had a chance to get with his lawyer yet. I'll be out of town this weekend, but we're going to sit down and have a serious discussion about it soon after I get back. Thanks for all the input, we know its going to be a ton of work, but hopefully we can get it going.

[05/450r/10]

have you started on the track? and were is it

[WoodTRD]

Not yet, we have to get the legal side of things taken care of first and still have a lot of planning to do. As far as location it will be in southwest Louisiana, we're looking at a few different locations right now.

[Lasher]

While never built or ran a track here are things I found out are the biggest issues...

EPA...you need to get all the permits for not only moving dirt but run off, leaking fuel/oil in the ground etc.

Town Permit...your town has to ok building a track.

Noise levels...all it takes is one neighbor to complain about noise or even dust.

Emergency...will the local EMTs be able to handle the extra load or will you have an EMT on staff?

Here in CT, so many people have tried and even started building tracks, only to be shot down by one of the things listed above.

One hint for private tracks that a lawyer mentioned to me. Get a permit to move dirt around on your property from the DEP or EPA. This way you can "mound" the dirt for movement and tell them it is not a "track" but you are just play riding on the mounds you created. It was a loop hole up here in CT that saved a couple private tracks.