Possum Bourne
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Peter Raymond George "Possum" Bourne (April 13, 1956 - April 30, 2003) was a champion New Zealand rally car driver.
He was a multiple winner of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the Australian Rally Championship, amongst many other titles.
Bourne earned his nickname, "Possum", the night he crashed the car his mothers Humber, while trying to avoid a possum in the middle of the road.
Bourne was best known for his exploits behind the wheel of Subaru cars, first the Legacy (known as the Liberty in Australia) and then the Impreza WRX. He drove for the Prodrive 555 World Rally Championship team in Rally New Zealand and also in Indonesia, partnered by Kenneth Eriksson.
Possum's best friend and co-driver, Dr. Roger Freeth, died in a freak crash during the 1993 Rally Australia, and the crash almost ended Possum's career. After a lot of soul-searching, he returned to the driver's seat aiming to honour Freeth's legacy. From the time of Freeth's death, Bourne displayed a "ROJ" license plate on the front of his rally cars.
Bourne died of head injuries sustained in a non-competitive car crash on April 18, 2003, at the Race to the Sky event held in Cardrona, near Queenstown, New Zealand. At the time of his death, Possum had just re-entered the world stage, driving a production-class Subaru Impreza in the PWRC.
His autobiography, Bourne to Rally was completed just days before his untimely death. A bronze memorial statue of Possum, unveiled a year after his death, now stands overlooking the event he loved the most.
He is survived by his wife Peggy and their children: Taylor, Spencer, and Jazlin.
In 2005, Peggy Bourne entered Race to the Sky, despite having had no formal rally driving experience, as a tribute to her late husband.
