Dirt Bike Track Design: How to Plan a Track on Your Own Land

Design a dirt bike track from the ground up: check how much land you have, what your dirt is and where the water goes, then lay out the flow, size every jump from the speed riders carry, and plan drainage and safety before you dig. Start below: find your land, trace it and sketch your loop, then open it in MotoTerra, Full Throttle's free track design app, to read your real ground.

Last checked November 7, 2026: acreage against Risk Racing and MotoTerra's guides, flood zones against the federal flood insurance rules, every link opened.

1. Start with your land

Most tracks get designed backwards: a layout someone loves, then ground that will not hold it. The soil turns to soup after rain, the best corner sits in a flood zone, or there is no room for the jump. So put your track on your real land first. Find it, trace your property and draw the loop you want to ride.

Then ask three questions about that ground:

• How much room do you have? An okay-sized track fits on about an acre, and a great one needs 3 to 5 acres at minimum (Risk Racing). A pro-style facility needs about 10 acres or more, in Full Throttle's operator experience. The track is not the only thing on the land: you also need parking, a staging area and a safe buffer around the course.
• What is your dirt? Soil decides how a track rides, drains and wears. The target is a sandy clay loam, enough clay to bind a jump face and enough sand to drain. Read the best soil for a motocross track.
• Where does the water go? Low spots, flood zones and wetlands are where tracks fail, through ruts that never dry or a permit problem you did not see coming.

Know your dirt and your water already? Check them in three taps:

That check runs on what you know. MotoTerra reads what the maps know: open your sketch there and it pulls the public elevation, soil, FEMA flood zone and wetland records for your land. See every step on a real track in the MotoTerra walkthrough.

2. Decide what the track is for

A track for your kids on a Saturday and a track that charges riders at the gate are different projects. Settle three things first:

• Who will ride it. Beginners, experienced riders or both. This sets the size of everything, the jumps most of all.
• What you can spend. Land is usually the biggest and most variable cost, then earthmoving, labor, permits and insurance. What it really costs to build a motocross track goes line by line.
• What you need permission for. Zoning, noise and land-use rules are set by your county. Confirm them before you move dirt.

For picking ground, see choosing the perfect location for your motocross track.

3. Lay out the flow

A good layout leads riders through turns and obstacles in an order that feels natural, with something for every skill level.

• Smooth transitions into and out of turns, jumps, rhythm sections and straights.
• Room to pass. Wide corners with more than one line mean fewer collisions and better racing.
• Rhythm that fits the riders who will actually ride it.
• Use what the land gives you. A natural slope can become a jump or a drop with far less dirt moved.

Draw the layout on your real property so every turn sits where it will be built: MotoTerra's track designer draws it on the same satellite map you traced and warns you if the line leaves your property. Then take it outside, stake the line, walk it and ride it slowly before you build. More in pre-construction planning for your dream track.

4. Size every jump from the speed, not a chart

This is where home-built tracks go wrong and riders get hurt. There is no right jump size to copy from a table.

• Speed matters most. Distance grows with the square of speed: double the approach speed and the jump goes about four times as far.
• The takeoff sets the arc. Near 45 degrees gives the most distance only on flat ground; on real jumps the landing sits lower, so the lip is shallower. Shape it as a smooth curve, never a sharp kicker.
• Build the landing to forgive. Match the top of the landing to the takeoff and steepen it as it drops, so a rider who is a little short or long still lands on a slope.
• Leave a run-out past the landing before the ground flattens.

The full explanation is in motocross jump design, and how to build motocross jumps lets you compare jump shapes. In MotoTerra, tap a jump on your layout to set its speed and lip and see the carry and the speeds it lands safely at.

5. Plan the surface, the water and the weather

• Grade for drainage. Water that sits on the track makes ruts and ends riding days. Shape the surface to shed water, and plan where it goes.
• Get the dirt recipe right. The right blend and compaction gives steady traction and less upkeep. MotoTerra's build stage checks the recipe against your mapped soil.
• Mind the sun and wind. Do not point a jump face into the low sun, where riders lose the landing, and put spectators and parking upwind of the dust.

6. Get experienced eyes on it, and plan for safety from day one

Show the plan to experienced riders and a track builder before you finalize it: they spot jump spacing and traffic problems you cannot. Safety shapes the layout, the jump sizes and where people stand. Insurance and your state's law decide how you can open the track to anyone besides family: Texas, Arkansas and Iowa have passed inherent-risk laws for motocross (MXTA). Read motocross track rider and spectator safety.

When the track is built

Designing it is the start. These are the tools Full Throttle's family of sites built for running a track:

• TrackPass sells your passes online, keeps every signed waiver and checks riders in at the gate. It is free for the track.
• The Motocross Track Association (MXTA) is a membership for track owners, with real court cases against tracks and what owners learned about waivers, insurance and minors. It also tracks inherent-risk laws state by state.
• Ayo! texts your whole list from your own phone, for when rain moves a race day.

Questions landowners ask

Design your track on your own land

MotoTerra is free, with no sign-up: it reads your real ground, helps you draw the track and size the jumps, walks you through budget, permits, building, safety and insurance, and texts you the plan. Watch it work on a real track in the step-by-step walkthrough.