April 30 is a sad anniversary for car enthusiasts and motorsport: 20 years to the day since Kiwi rally legend Peter “Possum” Bourne was killed in a road crash, while preparing for the Race To The Sky hillclimb in Central Otago.
Possum was checking the Cardrona Snow Farm road ahead of the event, driving downhill when his vehicle collided with another coming the other way. A later hearing found he was not at fault.
Bourne was a local hero in his home base of Pukekohe (even more so today), but also a national and international rally star.
Te Kauwhata-born, he did not compete in rallying until he was 23, in 1979. But his talent was recognised and in 1983 he got backing from Subaru NZ; Bourne and the brand became synonymous for the rest of his career.
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From 1986 he gained valuable experience in a partially factory-supported Japanese Subaru team, racing in Argentina, Australia, Kenya, the UK and the US.
His career really picked up when Subaru started to make truly competitive cars: the Legacy RS from 1990 and the WRX from 1994 onwards.
His first major international win was in Indonesia in 1993, with his co-driver and close friend Rodger “Roj” Freeth - who was sadly killed in an accident the same year on Rally Australia, again with Bourne. Possum only returned to rallying with encouragement from Freeth’s family, commemorating his co-driver with a “ROJ” license plate.
Possum won the Asia Pacific Championship three times in 1993, 1994 and 2000. On the first two occasions it was with the factory works setup, but on the third it was with his own Pukekohe-based team.
He was seven-times consecutive Australian champion from 1996 to 2002, a record. He won the New Zealand title in 1991.
On eight occasions he was also the first-placed NZ driver on the World Championship Rally of NZ, finishing in the top six on several occasions against the world's best.
Bourne was 47 when he passed away. From 2004, a large bronze statue of him created by Queenstown artist Minhal al Halabi stood looking over the Race to Sky course. The race was cancelled in 2007; in 2013 the statue was moved to Pukekohe township.