so ive been putting together a small track in my backyard, maybe 60x40 meters of usable space, and im trying to figure out how close together i can realistically set gates before it just becomes frustrating instead of fun. right now i have 8 gates and a couple of flag poles for the chicane section and it feels okay but my buddy who races locally said i should tighten it up more to actually build skill. hes running a 5inch freestyle build though not a proper race quad so im not sure his opinion applies here.

my track has one longer straight where i can actually open up, maybe 20 meters, and then everything else is pretty compressed. im running a 5inch on 4s with maybe 450-480g all up weight if that matters. anyone built backyard tracks have advice on minimum gate spacing that doesnt feel like youre just hovering through it?

for 5inch youre probably fine down to like 8-10 meters between gates on the technical sections, maybe a bit less if theyre offset gates where you have to really think about the line. the thing people get wrong with backyard tracks is making every gate the same height and spacing ? mix it up, throw in a low gate after a high one, put a gate right after the apex of a turn. that variation is what actually builds racecraft. your straight sounds fine honestly, 20m is enough to get meaningful speed in before you have to brake. id maybe add a hairpin somewhere if the space allows, those are brutal for building braking discipline.

i built one last summer in similar space and honestly the gate spacing mattered way less to me than gate SIZE. i was using these big 1.5m square gates and they felt super forgiving, swapped to some tighter 1m ones and suddenly the same track felt like a completely different course. if youre trying to actually practice race skills smaller gates at moderate spacing will teach you way more than wide gates jammed together i think