Tyre marks show Bourne saw trouble

By LOUISA CLEAVE in Wanaka

Possum Bourne acted to avoid the oncoming car 20m before a collision on the mountain road that later claimed his life.

Police said the accident was not a head-on collision. The professional rally driver's car was hit on the front driver's side on an area of road 20m wide.

John Lee, who owns the private access road in the Cardrona Valley where the cars were travelling, said tyre marks from Bourne's car were found 20m back from the crash site.

"He'd seen it coming. He went right into the water table."

Bourne, 47, died on Wednesday in Dunedin Hospital. He had suffered critical head injuries in the accident on April 18, Good Friday.

A police investigation is gathering independent evidence about the speed and positions of the vehicles involved - Bourne's Subaru Forrester stationwagon and a Chrysler Cherokee driven by Queenstown rally driver Mike Barltrop.

"It wasn't a head-on collision. The jeep hit into the front right of the Subaru," Wanaka detective Derek Shaw told the Herald.

He said there were no witnesses to the crash apart from Bourne, Barltrop and his co-driver.

Police have interviewed the survivors but are still waiting for further tests on the vehicles stored in Wanaka. They have put no timeframe on their investigation.

"What we're waiting for is to see if something totally independent can give us an indication of the cause," said Mr Shaw. "Things like marks on the road, vehicle damage, vehicle position."

He said Barltrop had been offered victim support services but Mr Shaw had not yet spoken to him about the accident.

The crash site raises more questions than answers. Two trucks could comfortably sit side by side in the space where the cars collided.

It is 1.5km from the bottom of the 13km access road to Waiorau Snow Farm, an impressive development of ski areas, lodge and rally testing sites used by international car companies owned by Mr Lee and his wife, Mary.

The Prime Minister skis there and the farm's famous "bra fence" - 800 brassieres flung over the top wire - stops motorists on the Crown Range Rd for photographs.

The Bourne family were staying at the lodge over Easter, as they did the year before, for the annual Race to the Sky hill-climb up the road.

Bourne told Mr Lee he was sure he "had it right" this year, but if he did not win he would do so next year because he was designing a car especially for the event.

Mr Lee said he was happy with the condition of the road, which had been graded a month before the race rather than the few days before as in previous years.

On Good Friday, Bourne set out from the lodge to check the course but returned briefly because he had not given one of his children a hug goodbye, said Mrs Lee.

He was on his second run through the course, driving down the mountain but on an incline when the crash happened.

Wanaka chief fire officer Steve Trevathan, one of the first emergency workers on the scene, said Bourne's car ended up hard against a dirt bank on his side of the road and the jeep was on its side against the Subaru's front right mudguard.

Bourne's airbag had inflated and his body was turned sideways in the seat towards the passenger side.

Fire officers worked around ambulance staff trying to stabilise Bourne, trapped inside the car by the dashboard across his legs.

Barltrop was stuck inside his vehicle with a broken leg, said Mr Trevathan.

"We left him - he said he was all right."

The fireman with 21 years' experience and witness to 30 road accidents this year alone said the crash was hard to understand.

Near the accident site the road rises sharply. Drivers would see each other, but at a short distance.

"If you're travelling on your correct side of the road there's not a problem," Mr Lee said.

There has been talk of dust creating problems but Mr Lee said the gravel was settled due to rain.