so ive been running a small backyard track for about 8 months now and i keep tweaking the gate spacing every few weeks because it never feels quite right. right now i have a rhythm section with 4 gates about 6 meters apart and then a long straight into a flag pole turn and honestly the rhythm section just feels too rushed even on a 5inch. i dropped the spacing to like 5m but then it felt sloppy coming out of the turn before it.

i know a lot of it is just personal preference but i was curious if anyone has like a rough rule of thumb they use when placing gates relative to the previous turn. do you account for the approach angle or just kind of walk it and throw gates down where it feels right. ive watched some multigp layout videos but they dont really explain the reasoning behind gate distances, just show the finished layout.

also my neighbor finally stopped complaining about the noise so that's something i guess

yeah gate spacing is honestly more art than science in my experience. what i do is fly the track mentally first ? like actually walk through it and think about where you'd be at 80% throttle vs where you need to brake. rhythm sections work best when the spacing lets you hold a consistent throttle rather than constantly hunting. 6m on a 5inch is actually not terrible but it depends a lot on the turn radius going into that section. if you're coming in hot off a sweeper you'll always feel like you're scrambling.

i'd try pushing the entry gate back a bit from the turn exit rather than changing all the spacing. give yourself like 2-3 extra meters of breathing room after the turn before the rhythm section starts and see if that changes how it flows. worked for my setup anyway.

dont overthink it honestly. i spent like two weeks moving gates around on my track and in the end i just flew it with a friend and asked him where it felt weird. fresh eyes help way more than any formula. also what gates are you using? the cheap bases that come with a lot of the budget sets shift around in wind and that alone can throw off your perception of spacing when you're reviewing footage