Brain scan reveals Bourne's survival chances 'virtually nil'

Critically ill rally driver Possum Bourne was yesterday taken off full life support at Dunedin Hospital.

His family and close friends were remaining by his bedside last night after being told that his chances of surviving his Easter car crash were "virtually nil".

Bourne's family said the injuries were more severe than originally thought, and it was not in his best interests to continue full life support.

"The extent and severity of the injury was not fully apparent until the weekend just gone, when ventilation support was decreased, but he deteriorated and had to go back on to full support," a family statement said.

A brain scan yesterday confirmed the seriousness of Bourne's injuries, and on medical advice, life support would be progressively reduced.

"It was a very difficult decision for everyone, but in the end it is in the interests of Possum," said a close friend of the driver, Murray Brown.

"He hasn't been alone the whole time he's been in hospital and he certainly won't be now. We're all just numb. His chance of survival is virtually nil."

Bourne has been in a drug-induced coma in hospital since the Good Friday collision.

He had been driving down a public road on a central Otago mountain range checking a hillclimb race route, when his Subaru stationwagon and a Jeep Cherokee driven by a fellow competitor collided. Heavy dust is thought to have been a factor.

Rescuers took more than an hour to cut him free as his distraught wife, Peggy, looked on.

Bourne, based in Pukekohe and New Zealand's only professional rally driver, has two sons, Taylor and Spencer, and a daughter, Jazlin.

He has won the Asia Pacific championship three times, and the Australian championship for the past seven years.

He was christened Peter but earned his nickname after damaging his mother's car as a teenager while avoiding a possum.

Almost 10 years ago Bourne's co-driver, Rodger Freeth, was killed when they crashed out of Rally Australia. In 2001, he said: "If I'd given up or if I hadn't seen it through, he would have died for nothing."

Prominent rally driver Neil Allport said he had not realised Bourne's condition was so grave.

"My thoughts are with Peggy. I just never thought things would get as bad as they obviously have."

Bourne's crash came just as the popular driver achieved his ambition to drive on the world rally circuit.

He has been loyal to Subaru for two decades, and this year the Japanese manufacturer repaid him by backing his campaign to compete in the world production car championship.

It was a belated reward for a driver who had frequently taken on the world's best in NZ and Australia in inferior machinery and usually outperformed many of them.