Z-man

Ok - here's something I've been doing for quite a while and wanted to know your input on this.

Premise: It is very important to be precise when driving on the track. In the turns, the trick is to be consistently hitting the turn in, apex and track out points, especially the apex. Sometimes, I'll ride up to the edge of the track, or actually hit the curbing at the apex (if it's not too harsh) just an inch or so - that way, I know I'm in tight on the apex.

I have found that it takes time to develop a spatial awareness to where the tires are, relative to my position in the car. So something I've often done while driving to work is to purposely attempt to place my tires the Botts Dots (reflector thingys) that are embedded in our roads, especially when the road curves a little. I'll pick a Botts Dot, and see if I can clip it with my front tire. If I feel the dot, then I know I've hit my mark.

Now the 'second' phase of my little excerise has been this: try to consistently hit a couple of Botts Dots and force myself to look as far ahead on the road as possible - say 5-6 dots ahead of the one I'm about to hit. This way, I'm working on precision as well as looking ahead - both important technques for taking a corner properly.

So, what do you think? Is my little game silly, or does it have some merit?

-Z-man.

Bull

Z-man, have a lot of time on your hands lately??????

amondc

not silly but it will ruin your tires. i used to do the same thing and you will develope what looks like a tumor on the side wall of the tire.

chris

Z-man

Actually, I've been overwhelmed at work - spinning my wheels and going nowhere....

-Z.

DrJupeman

My question is, how did you know they were called "Botts Dots"?

Bull

Z-man, the "Bots Dots" that those living in a snow-free part of the country refer to are different than ours. In areas where I have lived and snow plows didn't roam, the broken lines on the highway are usualy done in a string of round white dots instead of "paint" (keeps drunks and cell phone users in their lanes). A snowplow will pop them up like candy. I believe you are referencing the sunken reflectors, placed between the white lines on the road?????

Z-man

Correct - I am referring to the sunken reflectors (I thought they were also known as Botts Dots). The ones in line with the white lines as well as the ones on the yellow lines on the sides of the highway.

-Z.

4 Kurves

For trivia fans - the real story of Botts Dots:

Botts' Dots are named for their inventor, Elbert Botts, a chemist who worked for Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) in the 1950s as chief of the highway-pavement division. They were designed to enhance painted lines used in designating freeway lanes. Repainting these lines season after season was proving to be both costly and dangerous (the more often Caltrans workers were exposed to vehicles zooming by, the more often there would be a mishap), thus an alternate solution was sought.

Caltrans experimented with better, more reflective, paint but was unable to overcome the substance's inherent shortcoming of not being reflective enough in the rain or when a layer of water obscured lane markings after a rainfall. Improved paint wasn't the solution — it was time to think outside the box.

Botts began to tinker with rounded lane markers, his work culminating in 1955 in the invention of what would become a ubiquitous part of California highways, the Botts' Dot. Use of the embedded raised domes resulted in a reflective lane separation that was visible day and night, rain or dry. Its inventor always swore inventing the dots was the easy part — much more challenging was coming up with the glue to hold them in place year after year. (At first, Botts favored attaching the dots to the roadway with steel spikes but soon realized a spike that shed its dot would become a hazard lying in wait of a plump unsuspecting tire.)

The glue was perfected in the early 1960s, but the first Botts' Dots weren't installed until 1966 on Interstate 80 around Fairfield and on Highway 99 near Fresno. Elbert Botts did not live to see his brainchild make his name a household word — he died in 1962 long before any fame was associated with him.

A persistent bit of lore attaches to Botts, that he sold his idea to Caltrans and became a wealthy man by wisely insisting on payment of a small royalty per dot installed. That is untrue: Botts was the head of the Caltrans department charged with devising solutions to the marking of freeway lanes problem. This was no lone inventor slaving away in a basement laboratory who devised a killer app, sold it to a company in desperate need of it, and suddenly found himself living in the lap of luxury as the royalty checks kept rolling in. Rather, this was a man who worked a 9-to-5 job at Caltrans battling all manner of problems associated with pavement and lane markings.

Botts' Dots come in two types, round and square, and in several colors. Most are white, center markers are amber, wrong-way markers are red, and fire hydrant markers are blue. On most multi-lane freeways, Caltrans uses four white round non-reflective dots in a row, interspersed every 48 feet with a reflective square, along the painted stripes dividing lanes.

In 1997, there were some 25 million Botts' Dots in California. They can last more than ten years on some stretches of roadway but in others have to be replaced after only a few months' wear.

Bull

Botts Dots were very popular, and usefull, when I lived in the Seattle Rain Forrest!

mein51

Dodging or aiming for reflectors is the only way I can manage to drive long distances. Avoid while changing lanes, hit them with either the front or rear tire only, reflector slalom. My girlfriend hates it, but it makes for great spatial awareness. I pretty much do it anytime I drive, no matter which vehicle.

Rich Sandor

Yes, I often engage in reflector slaloms. It's infinately more enjoyable when you are in a convoy of 3 or 4+ 944 and you all start doing it.

Z-man

Thanks for the responses - at least it is good to know I'm not the only crazy one doing this on the highway!

Can you see it? "But officer, I wasn't weaving - I was simply working on my spatial awareness so I can more accurately clip those apexes..."


-Z-man.

mein51

Funny you mention that! I live next door to a local detective and he has caught me doing it before... he only made fun of me and asked me to be "less noticeable"

KOAN

4 Kurves,
Thanks for the history lesson. I had heard the term, but had no idea what the origin was. I enjoyed reading it.

Bull

I'm sure you don't see them in Michigan....snow plows fling them around like a reaper in cowpies!