so ive been messing around with building a small backyard track for a few months now and i keep running into the same problem where the gates feel either way too spread out and boring or so close together that you cant carry any real speed through them. right now im running a 5 inch quad and the track is maybe 30x15 meters which i know isnt huge but its what i've got to work with.

currently my shortest straight between gates is probably 4 meters and some of the turn sequences feel really cramped. like you almost have to slow to a crawl to make the chicane work. wondering if anyone has a general rule of thumb for gate spacing at this kind of size or if its just feel and iteration. also using those cheap foam pool noodle gates which fall apart constantly but theyre all i can afford righ tnow.

any thoughts on layout too ? do people generally do loops first and then figure out gate placement, or plan the gates and build the loop around them?

honestly at 30x15 for a 5in quad you're gonna have a bad time trying to get real speed going, thats just the reality. most club tracks i've flown are closer to 60x40 minimum for anything resembling actual flow. that said i've seen people do really creative stuff with small spaces by leaning into the technical side ? tight split-S sequences, low gates that force altitude changes, that kind of thing. stop fighting the space and design for it instead.

for gate spacing on a tight layout i usually aim for at least 6-7 meters between any two gates if i want the pilot to carry meaningful speed, anything under 5 and you're basically putting in a brake point which can be intentional but gets old fast. and yeah plan the loop first, always. figure out where you can safely fly and then drop gates in where they make sense, trying to reverse engineer it from the gates is how you end up with weird sightline problems.

pool noodle gates are fine honestly dont let anyone tell you otherwise, i used them for like a year before i bothered with anything nicer. the trick is getting the right wire or rebar through the center so they actually hold shape ? if youre just taping noodles together in a circle they'll collapse every single crash.

i cant really help with the spacing question cause im also kinda figuring that out myself but just wanted to say the noodle gate thing is solvable without spending money