About
The new facility, at the National Cycling Centre, is set to host major BMX events - attracting riders from all over the world.
But it’s not just for elite riders Manchester School Chidren will have regular, access to the track and keen cyclists will be able to attend.
- 1st ever permanent indoor BMX track in the UK.
- Open from 8.00am to 10.00pm every day, excluding Bank Holidays.
- Home of British Cycling, the national governing body for the sport.
- GB cycling team base including all support staff and athlete management.
- Operated by The Velodrome Trust, and built in 2010/11 at a cost of £24m, funded by Manchester City Council, New East Manchester, North West Development Agency and Sport England.
- Comprehensive BMX track programme catering for all riders; novice to elite, schoolchildren to masters riders from 6 years old plus, producing 40,000 rides per year, using 96 Haro BMX hire bikes.
- There is only one other indoor BMX Centre on this scale in the world, in Moscow.
- Construction cost £19M for the building. The public realm with the footbridge, public art, new footpaths, lighting, etc, cost a further £5M.
BMX Track Facts
- Gauge line length 400 metres.
- Permanent seating capacity 2000, temporary seating for 1000 extra for big events.
- Track width max 20 metres.
- 22 transponder timing loops to monitor BMX riders speeds at various points around the main & sprint track.
- Track width min 10 metres.
- There are 2 start ramps, which are 5m & 8m high, dropping to 1m above floor level at a gradient of 1:2.5 to generate sufficient speed to navigate the larger jumps along straight 1 and 2.
- Angle of the berms 42.5°.
- Safety netting similar to used on ski slopes in The Alps and indoor ski slopes in the UK.
- Track top material comprised of Soiltac® treated limestone dust - UCI designed and approved.
Building Facts
- Excavation - 40,000m3 of material excavated from the ground, half of which was mixed with existing foundations and used as fill material below building. 3000m3 of clay excavated from below the building was re-used as the earth mounds for the BMX track.
- Steel - 1050t of steel in the stadium and 350t of steel in the link building. If you laid all the stadium roof trusses out in a line it would be approx 880m. The equivalent of riding the BMX track twice.
- Mast cables - 3 quarters of a mile of mast cables to support the roof, transferring the load into the ground.
- Concrete - 1000m3 of concrete in the foundations. 1250m3 in the ground and 1st floor of the link building. 1315m3 or 7500m2 of coloured concrete externally including structures.
- Stadium roof - 9000m2 built over a BMX track of 7000m2
- Rock anchors - 12 rock anchors support the masts in tension. These have been drilled to a total of 600m in the ground.
- Windows - 1000m2 of glass to the link building and stadium.
- Bricks - 78,000 bricks to the external walls, 44,500 blocks to the internal walls
- Height - 21m at the highest point, but the tallest masts are 35m, some 14m above the roof.
