Possum Bourne

Personal information
Nationality	New Zealander
Born	(1956-04-13)13 April 1956 Pukekohe, New Zealand
Died	30 April 2003(2003-04-30) (aged 47) Dunedin, New Zealand
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1983–2003
Co-driver	Ken Fricker Michael Eggleton Mike Fletcher Jim Scott Kevin Lancaster Rodger Freeth Tony Sircombe Craig Vincent Mark Stacey
Rallies	42
Championships	0
Rally wins	0
Podiums	1
Stage wins	11
First rally	1983 Rally New Zealand
Last rally	2003 Rally New Zealand

Peter "Possum"Raymond George Bourne (13 April 1956 – 30 April 2003) was a champion New Zealandrally car driver. He died under non-competitive circumstances while driving on a public road that was to be the track for an upcoming race.

He was a three-time winner of theAsia-Pacific Rally Championship and theAustralian Rally Championship seven times consecutively, amongst many other titles.^[1] In 1993 he became the first New Zealand resident to have a works contract in aFISA rally championship, when he drove aSubaru Legacy forProdrive.^[2]

Bourne lived inPukekohe,Auckland, near his workshop. He lived with his wife, Peggy Bourne, and three children, Taylor, Spencer, and Jazlin. Bourne earned his nickname, "Possum", on the night he crashed his mother'sHumber 80 while trying to avoid apossum in the middle of the road.

His autobiography,Bourne to Rally, was completed just days before his death. A bronze memorial statue of Bourne, unveiled a year after his death, stood overlooking the place of his death.^[3] The statue was moved to Pukekohe town square in April 2013, unveiled alongside the 2013 ITM 400 V8 Championship parade. In 2005, Peggy Bourne enteredRace to the Sky, despite having had no formal rally driving experience, as a tribute to her late husband. In 2013, his oldest son Taylor Bourne competed in the 2013 Possum Bourne Memorial Rally with his stepfather and MPMark Mitchell as co-driver. When Taylor completed the event, he went on to say "It's easy to understand why he loved it so much".

Bourne was best known for his exploits behind the wheel ofSubaru cars, initially theRX (the turbocharged version of the Leone), then theLegacy (rebadged as the Liberty for the Australian market because of a perceived clash with charity organisationLegacy Australia).

But it would be theImpreza WRX that he would become most associated with, driving for theSubaru World Rally Team inRally New Zealand,Australia and also inIndonesia, partnered byRichard Burns in the mid 1990s, before going on to win multiple Australian titles with Subaru Rally Team Australia.

Subaru Japan gave him a black, limited edition SubaruImpreza WRX STi for personal use.

Bourne's best friend and co-driver,Dr. Rodger "Roj" Freeth, died in a horrible accident during 1993Rally Australia, and the crash almost ended Bourne's career. After encouragement from the Freeth family, he returned to the driver's seat. After Freeth's death, Bourne displayed a "ROJ" license plate on the front of his rally cars.

Bourne received serious head injuries in a non-competitive car crash on 18 April 2003, and died inDunedin Hospital on 30 April 2003 after life support was withdrawn.^[4] He was driving theRace to the Sky track, on the Waiorau Snow Farm Road which is normally a public road, for the event held inCardrona, nearWānaka, New Zealand.^[1] Driving hisSubaru Forester, he collided head on with aJeep Cherokee driven by rally driverMike Barltrop who claimed that Bourne was speeding. This treacherous road has over 100 corners and at least 15 hairpins, hence its appeal for rally driving. Barltrop was later arrested on a dangerous driving charge.^[5] After pleading guilty to aggravated careless use causing death, Barltrop was sentenced in the Invercargill District Court to 300 hours' community work, disqualified from driving for 18 months, and ordered to pay $10,000 reparations, divided between the intensive care unit of Dunedin Public Hospital and the Possum Bourne Education Trust.^[4]

At the time of his death, Bourne had just re-entered the world stage, driving a production-class Subaru Impreza in thePWRC.

• Obituary – from The Age
• Obituary – AFP
• Possum Bourne Motorsport
• News story about who was to blame
• Interview with Barltrop
• Mike Barltrop arrested

• 1956 births
• 2003 deaths
• New Zealand rally drivers
• World Rally Championship drivers
• Road incident deaths in New Zealand
• Racing drivers from Auckland

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from December 2021