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Matt Jones, Acer and Bike Park Chilterns are designing a 1.2km jump trail for Aston Hill in the Mavrix game first, and the build has its own crowdfunder.
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Aston Hill Bike Park in the Chilterns is getting a new 1.2km jump trail, and it is being designed in a video game before anyone digs it. Bike Park Chilterns CIC, which is rebuilding the park, has teamed up with pro rider Matt Jones, his mountain bike game Mavrix, and Acer, which makes the gaming laptops the game runs on. The Aston Hill crowdfunder has been relaunched to pay for the build: you can donate to the Acer x Mavrix trail on GoFundMe.
Bike Park Chilterns calls it "the first ever game to real life trail".
How the trail is being designed
In a video published on 29 September, Matt Jones, who raced the hardtail downhill category at Aston Hill as a kid, walks the line with John and Ian from Bike Park Chilterns. The trail follows a corridor that has already been benched into the hill, about 1.2km from top to bottom, with no jumps on it yet.
Duran, a trail builder who also builds tracks inside Mavrix and recreated the Darkfest course in the game, has mapped the hillside into the game engine from aerial imagery and terrain data. The team is now trying out jumps, tabletops, step-downs and hips in the game, using its physics-based bike, so a layout can be tested and changed before any digging starts. The stated aim is a trail you can ride top to bottom without braking or pedalling, and early tests in the game suggest the existing gradient suits that.
When it is finished, the trail will be rideable both at Aston Hill and in Mavrix.
Funding
Acer UK donated £25,000 to the Aston Hill GoFundMe on 30 September, and the fundraiser has been renamed "Let's build the Acer x Mavrix trail at Aston Hill together". Bike Park Chilterns says Acer's support has made the project possible, but that "building 1.2km of all-weather trail is a huge undertaking", so new donations will go on materials, machinery, fuel and build work for the trail. On 1 October the fundraiser stood at £36,458 of a £50,000 target, from 267 donations.
Acer is also running a UK offer: buy a qualifying Acer Nitro or Predator gaming laptop or desktop and you can claim a free copy of Mavrix and a wireless controller, with controllers available while stocks last.
The first two trails and opening
The Mavrix trail is the next build after the two trails that will open the park. According to the Aston Hill website, these are:
- Jump / Flow: an 850m surfaced trail on the line of the old Ricochet and 4X trails, with progressive jumps and drops that can all be rolled.
- Tech Track: a return for one of the park's classic natural tracks, following the old Root Canal corridor, updated to give what the park calls "a mini World Cup vibe".
Bike Park Chilterns says both are almost ready and that it will announce Aston Hill's opening date soon. Day passes are due to be £25. Until then, the park and all its trails remain closed.
Find out more
Watch Matt Jones's video below, follow the build on the Aston Hill Facebook page, and see the Aston Hill Bike Park listing for directions and the park's history.
To help get the trail built, donate to the Aston Hill crowdfunder.
Image: the Aston Hill flow line being tested in Mavrix, from Matt Jones's YouTube video.