Possum Bourne’s ex-World Rally Championship (WRC) Subaru has claimed the King of the Mountain title at Race to the Sky with Perth-based Scotsman Alister McRae at the wheel.
The former WRC driver extracted every last ounce of horsepower out of the WRX STi hill-climber as he stormed up the 14.5km course to win in the same machine Kiwi rally icon Bourne drove to his sole Race to the Sky victory in 2001.
The poignancy of the win 12 years after Bourne’s untimely death was not lost on McRae.“I know what Possum means to the motorsport community so to do that in his car, for Craig [Vincent] to invite me down here, it’s been a great weekend,” says McRae.
Vincent was Bourne’s co-driver for five years between 1996 and 2001, and his company Vantage Motorsport purchased the car from Possum Bourne Motorsport (PBMS) after Possum’s death and has “continued to race it in memory of our great mate”, says Vincent.
The Subaru nearly didn’t get the chance to do Possum proud as its 850hp engine failed on the final qualifying run. The PBMS team had four frantic hours swapping it over to a slightly lesser-powered engine and rebuilt it in time for the final run.
Demonstrating his incredible driving ability, McRae quickly adapted to having the lower 750hp and put on an impressive display as he stormed to the top of the course in eight minutes and 17.6 seconds.
“For Alister to do the job that he did, he’s such a professional,” says Vincent.
He recalled some of the Subaru’s history.
Built in 1998 by Prodrive and contested by Finn Juha Kangas, the car was bought by Bourne as a shell when Kangas crashed it during Rally NZ. PBMS rebuilt it for the 2001 edition of Race to the Sky and, with about 600hp at his disposal, Bourne won. He contested the event in the car again in 2002, but didn’t finish due to a puncture.
The car returned to Race to the Sky each year from 2004-07 with Swede Kenneth Eriksson driving. He battled against Nobuhiro Tajima, but could claim no better than second place during those campaigns. Since then, the vehicle has only been for special events, such as Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour campaigning it at Rod Millen’s Leadfoot Festival in 2011 and 2012, and Australia’s Cody Croker driving it ahead of the field on the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally in 2013.
Bourne’s son Spencer, 16, presented third-placed Amberley super-quad rider Ian Ffitch with the fastest Kiwi trophy, engraved with his late father’s name.“Top three is awesome,” says Ffitch. “But really it’s all about the Possum Bourne Memorial Trophy. I was lucky to win it the first year and that was very special.”
Spencer enjoyed his weekend but had one problem with the course. When asked what he thought of his ride up the climb, which rises 1,050 metres from the Cardrona Valley into the Pisa Range, he says: “We went too slow in the safety car. I know this event meant everything to Possum and it means just as much to me. In my opinion, it is probably the best New Zealand event ever created.”
Australian Brent Hayward was second driving a self-built and supercharged Suzuki-powered open wheeler. Tajima crashed out of contention on his qualifying run, badly damaging his Super 86 hill-climber, but emerged unscathed.
