Velodrome footprints, by the numbers.

If you’re hoping to build a velodrome somewhere, one of the first questions you’ll get is “how much space will this thing take?” There are plenty of lists detailing the names, locations, lengths, and banking of every single velodrome around the world, but good luck trying to find a resource detailing the actual space requirements. Unless you’re an engineer or way smarter at math than me, determining the footprint of a velodrome is no small task. After far more googling and doodling than I care to admit, I finally decided to use the “measure it” tool in Google Maps to calculate some rough estimates of the footprints of existing velodromes.

333 meter velodrome: ~151,000 square feet or 3.5 acres

This length is first on the list because it’s the distance of T-Town, aka the Valley Preferred Velodrome in Trexlertown, PA, where I first became a bicycle racer back in the late 80s. I also can’t imagine building a track longer than 333m, so we’ll start with the largest and go down from here. The first measurement is the actual footprint of the track itself, not including the sloped area from ground level up to the apron at the top of the track. Here, we’re about 470′ long by 262′ wide, which is 123,904′ square feet or 2.8 acres.

Next, I measured the approximate footprint including a 35′ buffer for the sloped area from the top of the track down to ground level. Here, we’re about 540′ long by 330′ wide, requiring 178,369 square feet or 4.1 acres.

After measuring both ways, I simply averaged out the 333m track to 151,000 square feet, or about 3.5 acres.

250 meter velodrome: ~95,000 square feet or 2.2 acres

For the 250 meter track, I measured the Giordana Velodrome in Rock Hill, SC. The tight measurement is about 365′ long by 200′ wide, which is 73,239 square feet or 1.7 acres.

While the Rock Hill track is actually below grade, I took another measurement with the same 35′ buffer used at T-Town. This got us to about 435′ long by 270′ wide, which is 117,051 square feet or 2.7 acres.

After measuring both ways, I simply averaged out the 250m track to 95,145 square feet, or about 2.2 acres.

167 meter indoor velodrome: 64,000 square feet or 1.5 acres

For an indoor track, I’m using the measurements from Lexus Velodrome in Detroit, MI designed and built by Dale Hughes. Dimensions of the actual track are obviously smaller, but the building’s measurement is 320′ long by 200′ wide, which is 64,000 square feet or 1.5 acres. In case you’re wondering, it’s 60′ high/tall according to the inflatable dome’s manufacturer, The Farley Group.

If you’re interested in helping get more measurements on this list, pick a track from this map showing most of the US velodromes (except the Lexus Velodrome in Detroit, MI) and send along your data to necycling (at) racemenu (dot) com.