An All-Round Champion - Possum Bourne

By David Thomson

I'm writing this piece as a tribute to the most successful rally driver New Zealand has produced, but by the time it appears in print it is likely to be an obituary.

It is early on the morning of Tuesday, April 29, 2003.

Last night Possum Bourne's family and team issued a statement to the effect that the head injuries suffered by the Kiwi rally ace in a freak road accident on Friday, April 18 were more severe than initially thought.

Possum has been in a medically-induced coma since that accident. When an attempt was made to decrease ventilation support at the weekend, his condition deteriorated. Further evaluation, including a brain scan, has led those with the terrible job of making such judgments to the conclusion that full support is no longer in Possum's best interests.

Murray Brown, general manager of Possum Bourne Motor Sport, has confirmed that the decision has been made to gradually decrease Possum's life support, and says that "his chances of survival are virtually nil."

Now is the time to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of the 47 year old rally ace. In a career spanning almost 25 years, he has won national and international championship titles, rallying with and competing against some of the greatest drivers in the sport.

Rallysport News will, I know, provide a fitting tribute from an Australian perspective. This one comes from the Kiwi point of view.

Possum Bourne started his career in 1979, driving a Ford Cortina V8 to third place on his first event. He graduated to a Mazda RX3, making a storming international debut on the 1981 Rally of New Zealand. He then switched to Subaru, a marque to which he remained loyal for 20 years.

Back in those early days, he was known by his real name, Peter. Then it became Peter 'Possum" Bourne, and finally just Possum.

The story of how he got that nickname - given after he rolled his mum's Humber after swerving to avoid a Possum on the road - has become part of the legend. Recalling my own younger days, I recall asking Possum many years ago if there really was a marsupial on the road, or whether that was simply the excuse. He just smiled.

We first met some 18 years ago, when he drove a standard Subaru RX to an unlikely victory on the 1985 Southland Rally in treacherous and icy conditions. His first national championship win, this memorable result was scored against a high class field including a Group B Audi Quattro, a couple of Nissan 240RS's, and numerous BDA Escorts. He still recalled the victory with pride a couple of months ago, when he suggested with a laugh that it was as close as he had come to rallying in conditions like those he would face on this year's Swedish Rally.

Possum won the New Zealand Championship only once, but that was because he had the talent to take his career offshore with Subaru.

These opportunities arose after he scored a hat trick of Group A wins for Subaru on Rally New Zealand from 1983 to 1985. From 1986 to 1989, he rallied the RX Turbo on selected world championship rounds, scoring five top ten results in 11 starts. Highlights included a third place on the 1987 Rally NZ (an event which he could have won outright), and three finishes on the gruelling Kenyan Safari.

When Subaru decided to up the ante and bid for outright world championship wins with the new Legacy, Bourne was one of those on the shortlist for a factory drive. His fifth place on the 1990 Rally NZ was at the time the best result by a Legacy in world championship competition. His fourth place scored on Rally Australia - in a car detuned to protect its fragile transmission - was an even greater achievement.

Responsibility for the Subaru world championship programme was passing from Japan to Prodrive in the UK at this time, and Bourne joined Markku Alen in a two car assault on the 1990 Welsh Rally.

I was working in Britain at the time, and had fun catching-up with Possum as he prepared for his first taste of left-hand drive rallying. The Welsh Rally experience should have been followed by a run on the RAC Rally that year, but instead the team's second car was driven by F1 driver Derek Warwick in a one-off guest appearance.

Possum re-focussed on a local programme for the next couple of years, winning the 1991 Kiwi title before heading across the Tasman to start his Australian championship career by finishing runner-up in the 1992 series.

The opportunity to re-launch his international career as a factory driver came with the burgeoning Asia-Pacific Championship, which he won against top-flight opposition in both 1993 and 1994. Victories against the likes of Kenneth Eriksson and Richard Burns en route to these titles rank amongst the greatest achievements of his career.

His home fans, though, usually had the chance to see Possum in action just once a year, on Rally New Zealand. It was taken for granted that, so long as he finished, he's be the first Kiwi home. What they turned out to see, was his bid to take the fight to the leading international stars.

The performance I savour most came in 1992 when he challenged Carlos Sainz (then with Toyota) for the lead. Just when it seemed within Bourne's grasp, the engine of his Subaru Legacy cried enough. The tens of thousands of fans who packed the special stages to witness his epic drive were devastated.

In recent years, Kiwis have taken pride in Possum's performances on your side of the Tasman. It must be said that his ability to 'whip the Aussies' gave us a special boost in those years when our rugby, cricket and netball teams have not managed to perform to quite the same level!

His achievement in winning the Asia-Pacific title for a third time in 2000 - in a car prepared by his own team - didn't generate quite the same interest in New Zealand, even though it was an achievement he regarded with huge personal satisfaction.

Possum was a living legend here, ranking up there as one of the country's best known sporting names. I recall him turning up in my home town to talk to teenage school kids about road safety, and by his mere presence generate a standing ovation that left their teachers bewildered

On a more personal note, when my book "The Rally New Zealand: Celebrating 25 Years" was launched on the eve of the 1996 event, Possum sought me out to offer congratulations, and would only sign my copy if I did the same for him. A couple of year ago, a signed poster arrived in the post unsolicited, expressly thanking me for my words and support over the years.

These incidents highlight the fact that Possum was one of the nice guys of sport: a Pukekohe lad who never forgot his humble origins; who always had time - and a ready smile - for the public and the press; who was committed to raising the profile of his sport; who used his own standing to support worthy causes; who most of all inspired and encouraged others through his infectious enthusiasm.

As someone who looked forward not backwards, he grasped opportunities as they arose. The most recent example came with the move to a Group N championship in Australia.

While it wasn't a change he initially favoured, Possum relished the close competition that resulted. He also used the experience his team gained to leverage a chance to contest the 2003 Production Class World Championship.

It was a plan he started to talk about after last year's Canberra Rally, and support from Subaru Japan started to fall into place when he won last year's Hokkaido Rally, the first international championship rally ever held in Japan. I was there, and felt a huge swell of Kiwi pride as the band struck up God of Nations when Bourne took top place on the podium.

That production championship bid has now been cut short, but regret is not a word I can bring myself to use, since it wasn't one that featured in his vocabulary.

We can only imagine what a terrible time this is for Possum's family, and his team. They have maintained a 24-hour vigil at his side. They have found comfort in the way the Kiwi and Australian rallying fraternity, and Possum's legions of fans worldwide, have expressed their support.

Now that Possum is slipping from this world, we should remember that the coming weeks and months are when ongoing support from the wider rallying fraternity will really count. In the meantime, my thoughts and prayers are with Peggy, Spencer, Taylor, Jazlin and the members of Possum's wider family.