Kiwi motorsport great Possum Bourne's son follows in late dad's steps with first drive in rally car

October 30, 2020

Spencer Bourne has gone for a drive on gravel roads in Waikato ahead of his first rally.

Spencer Bourne, son of the late, great Possum Bourne, has progressed further along yesterday in following his father’s footsteps into the rallying world.

1 NEWS revealed last month Bourne is entering his first rally later this year, and yesterday he took a significant step towards that by getting behind the wheel of a rally car for the first time.

Adding to the occasion though is the fact that parts of Possum's team, such as Snow Mooney, are helping his son in his journey.

“We were here with Possum in the early 80s doing the same thing and now it's really, really bizarre, we've got the next generation and I'm doing the same thing with his son,” Mooney told 1 NEWS.

“I'm actually proud to be involved in the project and to see Spence go from strength to strength.”

Bourne has three weeks before his first competition and nerves are starting to hit home with the 22-year-old pulling on his dad’s famous Subaru colours.

“Nervous is a bit of an understatement,” Bourne Jr said.

But with some wise words from Mooney and experienced rally driver Mark Pedersen on board, Bourne’s quest to the Jack's Ridge Rally Sprint took its biggest step this afternoon as he spent 30 minutes driving around Waikato’s gravel roads.

“The first run we only hit, not that I was paying attention, we hit about 60, 65 maybe 70 [km/h], but on the second run on we got up to about 105,” Bourne said after the drive.

“The last run was definitely a flyer.”

Pedersen was impressed with Bourne’s debut.

“Most guys start in two wheel drive cars,” he said.

“[Former WRC driver] Hayden Paddon started in a Mini in a paddock and here's Spencer in a 350 horse power rally car.”

Coincidentally, Paddon is also on board to help Bourne.

“He's going to be teaching me some pace notes and giving me some mentoring and taking me for a ride or two,” Bourne said.

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