New Zealand rallying legend Possum Bourne would have turned 64 on Monday. 64? Can you believe that?
No, neither can I, but it’s true.
It’s perhaps even harder to believe that it’s coming up to 17 years since the Subaru legend passed away as the result of a road accident while at the Race To The Sky Hillclimb in 2003.
It was set to be a career defining year for Bourne in 2003. As well as contesting the Australian Rally Championship and chasing an eighth consecutive title, he was also embarking on a World Championship program in a Group N Subaru.
He’d already contested the Rally of Sweden and Rally New Zealand, proving (as always) that he was up for any challenge put in front of him.
It wasn’t as though Bourne needed a career defining season though. He’d already done enough to establish himself as a rallying legend both in New Zealand and Australia. And he was well known all the world over.
His tragic death not only devastated his wife, children and wider family, but also left the rallying world in mourning like few rally drivers have done before.
Few, but not all.
Ironically, his one-time 555 Subaru World Rally Team team-mates, Colin McRae and Richard Burns, also left this world well before their time, and to widespread sorrow.
Burns died of a brain tumour in November 2005, while McRae was killed when the helicopter he was piloting crashed near his home in Scotland in 2007.
If nothing else, it proved just how fragile life is. Team-mates, friends, rivals, all taken from their families tragically, and unexpectedly.
I interviewed Possum several times over the 11 years that I knew him, and each occasion was memorable for one reason or another.
During all these interviews, through the phone conversations and the hundreds of quick chats at the end of stages during ARC rounds or at Rally Australia or Rally New Zealand, it was Possum Bourne’s easy going nature that shone through.
It’s true, if things weren’t going Possum’s way he wasn’t the easiest bloke to talk to (and I’m sure other competitors would agree), but most of the time he was winning, and a friendly smile or a quotable quote was always forthcoming.
Perhaps more than anything though, it was Possum’s loyalty to the brand, to Subaru, that set him apart from many before or after him.
His drive, his passion, and his willingness to put the brand first and to go the extra mile paid off many times, to both his, and Subaru’s, benefit.
It’s a trait that Hayden Paddon has followed almost to the letter in recent years, and one that sees the ‘modern day Possum’ just as popular as his revered predecessor.
He may have been 64 this week, and it may be nearly 17 years since he left us, but Possum Bourne hasn’t been forgotten.
Nor will he ever be.
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