Obituary: Possum Bourne

By JOHN COKER*

Rally champion. Died aged 47.

It is ironic that someone who survived everything rallying could throw at him should be taken from us in such a sad way.

Nothing, it seemed, would ever stop Possum Bourne. He encountered everything from wildlife in Africa on the Kenyan Safari to crashes and mechanical failure but always bounced back.

In the end he was taken worlds away from the high-speed life he had lived and enjoyed for so long.

I count myself as being more fortunate than most in spending so much time with Possum as he took his undoubted skills to the world.

In the early days, Possum and his mates spent hours in an old cowshed in Karaka with a feed of fish and chips and a few beers as they worked for hours on a Mazda RX3.

I first met him as a Herald journalist covering motorsport. In those days, as a member of the Pukekohe Car Club, he used to do hillclimbs as that was all he could afford.

He then shoved a V8 engine in a Mark 1 Cortina and went rallying.

He eventually took his talents from hillclimbs on gravel roads to the very top of his sport.

I well remember his first rally in the Woodhill Forest. Seeded 48th, he finished third. I wrote at the time it was the drive of the rally. Little did we know then what was to follow.

In that first season, in 1979, he won the Riverhead rally. Few first-season drivers ever get to win.

In 1983 he competed in the New Zealand Rally where he started his long-time association with Subaru, winning the Group A class on his debut with the marque.

From my perspective as a journalist, it was simply a case of reporting on a sportsman doing what he loved.

His rallying was part-time as he worked his way through a motor mechanic apprenticeship and driving trucks, including milk tankers.

In 1986 he had progressed to the big time.

I was the only NZ journalist in Kenya for the Safari Rally. It was an amazing experience and the chance to watch Possum close up in one of the most demanding of all motorsport challenges. I was able to write stories telling of how he encountered every kind of wildlife you could imagine, and survived.

I went back another three times for the rally, which was so different to anything else in the world.

On one occasion I had to drive four hours for a 15-minute interview with Possum then drive four hours back to telex my story to New Zealand. He was always aware of the media and what they could do for him, and vice-versa.

He appreciated the part the media played. Even though he admitted he was not academically inclined, he was smart enough to know the more he spoke to the media the greater the long-term benefits.

In the past 14 days as I have reflected on what has happened, I appreciate even more just how well he got on with everybody.

Rarely did you hear anything but encouragement from or to the person I, and everybody else, regarded as a legend.

I never heard him say "no". That surely, set him apart.

I regularly saw him compete in Australia where he took much pleasure as a patriotic Kiwi in beating the best that Australia could put up to take the Aussie title seven years in a row.

I was there when his co-driver Rodger Freeth died after an accident in the 1993 Rally of Australia. Obviously, that had a profound effect on the normally happy-go-lucky Bourne but there was never any hint it would lead to him giving the sport away.

He told me at the time that "to chuck it in now after all we have achieved would be a waste of time". No one disagreed.

He realised how important sponsorship was.

He was very canny. He knew the benefits of being part of small-town New Zealand. There was never any suggestion he would leave Pukekohe. Possum and his mates progressed from preparing rally cars in a shed in the back yard to setting up a fulltime business.

Many people have asked how he compared with the world's best rally drivers.

I have always maintained that on his day, in a works car, he would be as good as any driver in the world.

Several times he finished in the top six at the Rally of New Zealand. There's your answer.

His "home" rally was always special. While he did not win it, he rated his drives in 1988 and 1996 as his best chances, maintaining that he could have won "but things did not go my way".

For someone who lived so much of his life in the fast lane, he was not competitive in all he did. Out of the car that competitive edge was noticeably absent. Rather, he just enjoyed life and the chance to meet and interact with people.

He just had a flair for driving a car fast on a metal road.

A poignant message - one of thousands on his website - perhaps best summed up what Possum had given his thousands of fans.

Simply, it said: "Possum has done for rallying what Peter Blake did for yachting." No one would disagree.

* John Coker is a former Herald journalist, part-time rally driver and long-time friend.