so ive been helping build tracks for our local club and we keep running into the same issue ? everyone wants to run 5inch quads but the venue we use is basically a repurposed warehouse and the ceiling is only like 4.5 meters in the tallest spots, drops down to maybe 3 in the corners.

we've been doing 6-8 meter gate spacing on the straights which feels okay but then the chicane section we built last month was just chaos, people were clipping gates constantly and a couple guys actually DNF'd the first heat just from debris on the track.

im wondering if its a course design problem or if people just need to slow down their tune for indoor. or both honestly. we have a mix of skill levels showing up which doesnt help, some of these guys are running 2000kv motors on 6S and just absolutely do not need to be on an indoor track lol

anyone dealt with this for mixed skill level events? thinking about having a separate beginner class maybe run 3inch toothpicks but not sure if thats overkill for organizing

yeah the mixed class thing is always a headache. we ran open class alongside a spec class for a while and it helped a lot ? basically anyone running under a certain thrust to weight ratio got put in spec and flew a simplified version of the course with wider gate spacing. not perfect but it kept the crashes down and newer pilots actually finished races instead of just DNF'ing every single heat.

for the chicane specifically, if people are clipping gates its almost always a sight line problem not a skill problem. if a pilot cant see the exit gate while they're entering the chicane they will always cut it too tight. try offset the gates more so the exit is visible earlier, made a huge difference for us. and soft gates obviously, we stopped using any rigid frame gates on technical sections after one guy took a PVC corner to the face shield

3 inch toothpick class is actually really fun for indoor dont dismiss it. we did a 2s spec class last winter and honestly some of the fastest guys in our club showed up just for the challenge of it. different kind of racing but the track can be way more technical because youre not terrified of someone losing a blade and taking out half the gates