Seattle Christmas Party Photos

Looks like a great time, sorry I didnt make it......but MEXICO was calling...

 

Wow, looks like a fun time.
Did Tegeler PIMP his black 355 with the yellow wheel in front?

...and to think I stayed home to watch the Seahawks clinch the Division title (which they choked on doing...)

 

I hit a pothole deep enough to pop my front tire a 1/2 a mile from the Dinner on Lake Washington blvd Thursday night at 6:00. I drove the car 20 blocks to Ferrari of Seattle with the tire still on the rim. Mark Glenwood was sill there and said he'd stick around to change it. Mark found a challenge wheel downstairs that would fit but didn't want to install it because it was yellow. Tino offered one off the showroom floor but I said no, lets put the yellow one on. After all it was better than taking a cab with the stereo gear i was hauling and I didn't want the risk of damaging their showroom wheel and tire.

Turned out to be a nice evening with the usual AV difficulties. Thanks to Michael B for the pictures.

As for the tire, I'll have to have both front tires replaced to match compounds which Michelin has changed, I have to have the front wheel straightened and refinished and I'm doing a precautionary re-allignment. Needless to say it was an expensive evening!

Dave Handa thinks I can send the bill to the City and receive some compensation for their road so I went to take a picture of the pot hole. It was right in the left tire track about 8-10 inches deep about 10 inches wide. If it had been 12 inches wide it would have got my rear tire as well. I will be interesting to see what Seattle road dept. says.

 

Looks like it was a fun time! Alicia and I set out at 5 pm from Kirkland in the Mercedes and literally could not find a route out of the town. Every intersection was flooded to a foot or two. We tried a number of routes and finally decided it would be crazy to continue especially since the real winds had yet to hit. Anyway, we wish we could have been there. I was impressed with the turnout given the conditions.

Sorry to hear about Dave's tire woes - I hope you can get the city to cough up something. Thanks for bringing all the gear out. I can't wait to see the videos.

Thank you to Janet for all of your planning work and to Gary for bringing out all of the giveaways. I understand that Griot's Garage was very generous in their support of the club as the Elms B&B.

- Will

 

Here is the pothole that got me Thursday night. It was just narrow enough that my rear tire covered it but it put a 3 inch gash in the sidewall of my front tire. Note the location and stay away from Lake Washington Blvd near Leschi
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So the City/County/State wants to spend millions....nay billions building things like the commuter rail to the airport, more HOV lanes, squirrel overpasses, bike lanes, urban bike trails, and a bunch of other idiotic projects...but they can't fix potholes in the road. Nice.

 

As soon as they get done with the claims from the cars floating in the lake under Hwy 99 on Mercer street.........................................

 

Dave,

Here is the form that you need to fill out for filing a claim with the City of Seattle. http://www.seattle.gov/riskmanagement/docs/claim_form2.pdf

It would probably be a good idea to include photos of the tire damage and pothole in the mail with the form.

Here's a snippet from the city web site regarding pothole claims:

There were 103 street-defect filings in 2004, a 52 percent drop from the annual average of 216 filings over the 1998-2001 time frame. Potholes are considered street defects. Officials believe this reduction can be attributed to three things: the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT) pothole ranger program, which repairs potholes within 24 hours after being reported; an expansion of SDOT’s street overlay program; and the relatively mild winter weather.

 

Seattle will indeed fix pothole pretty quick if reported...problem is most people will not report them. Even ones on busy streets never seem to get reported, if I make a mental note and call it in, they usually fix it within two or three days. Once in a while it takes a second call.

 

Okay, a quick note on us here...Lauren's 300SD blew it's #1 cyl. low psi fuel return line. Ken got his tool kit out of his truck and we shortened up the line a cm or so. We had just enough line to re-affix it to injector #1. She blew it off on the drive up from Portland, OR. the day before (we figured this out the next day when fueling up and calculating the gas mileage) but we could only "smell" Diesel fuel when in stop and go traffic...We first discovered the scent of fuel a block away from FOS on the way to the party.

We normally get 30 mpg on the freeway, when we fueled her up the next day...the day after the big storm...only 20 mpg for her trip up from Portland.

Upon returing from the party...

At home near Dash Point State Park, winds were 60+ mph. We were up all night watching our trees. At about 2am one of our neighbor's 90' + hemlocks crashed down onto my detached garage where we keep all the toys. They all lived, Ferrari okay. I'll post some pics on a new thread tomorrow. PeterB.!

 

Great info, Thanks.

You can contact teh Pothole Rangers through the city's website to report potholes:
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/potholereport.htm

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16322062/

 

This just happened Thursday!

The pothole was about 3- FEET in diameter by the end of the day.

Imagine driving over that in a Ferrari doing 60 MPH.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/296887_i5rut22.html