A day of Porsches, Lamborghinis, breakdowns and doughnuts
The day before, photographer Ali Cusick and I travelled up to Preston in a Powerkitted 997 Carrera S to meet with Alex Livesey, whose brother Paul had built him a rather special 964. We stayed with Alex and his family and the next morning Alex opened his garage door to reveal not only the 964 but also a banana yellow Lamborghini Diablo, which was ridiculously wide and low. It was also ridiculously loud, as I found out on starting the engine. It seems Paul had sneakily removed the cats from the 660bhp V12 engine. Fantastic!
However, today was about the 964, which develops a paltry 550bhp. Ali had earmarked a location in Lake District, which Alex and Paul were familiar with, so off we went. Ali set the sat-nav and I glanced down: “99 miles? I thought it was just down the road!” Oh well, it was off up the M6.
Eventually, we reached the spot and it was truly stunning, as the photo here shows (it also shows the engine is rather special, too).
Ali was jumping around like a kid in a sweetshop, muttering about light, sky and exposures, and all was rosy. Then he asked Alex to move the car around for the next shot. It wouldn’t start. Oh.
Paul, who knows the car inside out, poked around, scratched his head, swore, and said the fuel pump wasn’t working. Did we have any tools? The 997 revealed a plastic box with a screwdriver and a spanner in, so that was a start. We jacked up the car with the 964’s flimsy scissor jack and shoved a couple of Lake District boulders under for good measure. “There’s no power to the pump. It’s the f’ing immobiliser. I told you we should have trashed that,” he muttered to Alex.
With no tools, it seemed the only solution was to call the AA. But there was no phone signal in this remote valley. So Alex and I jumped in the 997 and drove up to a slate quarry, where we used their landline (how quaint). The breakdown guy said he’d be there within the hour, so we returned to the others, to be greeted by the roar of the 964. It was running!
A couple in a Discovery very kindly pulled over and offered the use of some tools and a length of wire, which Paul used to run power to the pump. Thanks guys!
And no thanks to the old bloke in (an admittedly lovely) Triumph GT6 who, instead of offering to help, drove past with his thumb up and a smug grin.
Car running and photos taken, all that remained was to get some action shots. As you can see from the video, the 964 didn’t disappoint. As to how you get 550bhp out of 964, you’ll have to wait to read about the car in Total 911.
Thanks also to Alex and Paul for their help with the feature.
Lambo video courtesy of Ali Cusick.
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