Tribute to Possum Bourne

[fordfan2]

hi,
I'm a big fan of rally and i no that Possum Bourne died a while ago now but i thought it would be good to bring up his past as he was such a good rally driver. Now having my dad in the tyre bussiness and him sellin Perelli tyres which suburu use my dad got to meat "Possum" and told me what a great person he was and how friendly we was if anyone out there has any information about him please reply. Thanks
p.s: i realise that possum is not his real name and just a nick-name but everyone called him Possum so.

[fpv_gtho]

Possum Bourne is someone that we're never going to forget so it doesnt really matter if we payed tribute to him the day after his fatal crash or 10 years after, the fact of the matter is he was the best rally driver to ever come out of the Australia-New Zealand-Pacific region, let alone just New Zealand. Some of you may have already noticed my short tribute to him in my signature as well.....

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by fpv_gtho

he was the best rally driver to ever come out of the Australia-New Zealand-Pacific region...

I agree, he was a good driver and a nice guy.
He'd hired the GBM Audi to do the NZ a coupel of times and (I think) Oz.
I never got the chance to meet him, but my brother was always happy to work with him.
If anyone has any photos of him in the GBM cars, I'd appreciate it.
Cheers

[fpv_gtho]

He was described as many as the Michael Schumacher of the Australian Rally Championship so in many ways its unfortunate he didnt score a professional drive in WRC, whether that be because he wasn't interested in the role or ho knows what.

[Pliz]

i feel sorry for him...he shouldnt have died such a early death but i heard he was a very nice man...oh yeah if anyone wants to know why they call him possum ask me and i'll let you know

[fpv_gtho]

well im not at all sure why he's called possum, but with the amount he's refered to as possum, ive forgotten his first name, last i heard i think it was Ian or something

[motorsportnerd]

Peter "Possum" Borne got his middle name because he rolled his mum's car trying to avoid a possum in the late 1970s. True story

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by motorsportnerd

Peter "Possum" Borne got his middle name because he rolled his mum's car trying to avoid a possum in the late 1970s. True story

IIRC he rolled one of the Audi's too - maybe it was the reputation that kept him out of WRC series

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

I agree, he was a good driver and a nice guy.
He'd hired the GBM Audi to do the NZ a coupel of times and (I think) Oz.
I never got the chance to meet him, but my brother was always happy to work with him.
If anyone has any photos of him in the GBM cars, I'd appreciate it.
Cheers

GBM? To the best of my knowledge, Borne never drove an Audi in the Rally of New Zealand. He drove for Subaru in every Rally NZ from 1983 (in a Group A Subaru Coupe) until 2003 (in a Group N Impreza). Unless it was before 83?
Let me know what the GBM stands for and it may jog my memory.

And, Bourne is indeed missed. I still remember the shock of hearing about the crash a little under a year ago. This year's Rally NZ will be missing a very special person... It won't be quite the same. Hope they have some special tribute for him before the start.

[whiteballz]

possum was a great man, i knew him through michael thompson another rally driver in the austrilasian rallys, me and alex thompson hung around his crew and service stops instead of helping with alex's dads team, haha
great times, same with neal bates, great driver great man, but possum inspired so many people... i will miss him sorely...

he always was willing to help other teams, dell subaru (thompson) blew an engine, and they gave him a spare... a great thing rallying...