Owner and regular navigator John White confirmed the car was about three weeks away from being completed, which will give the team about a month to carry out a test and shakedown program before the April 27 start.

‘‘The first thing we had to do was completely strip the car to establish whether it was possible to rebuild it within budget or start from scratch,’’ he said. 

‘‘So much development had gone into the car previously that we finally decided on a rebuild and trying to recover as much of the undamaged parts as possible.’’

The entire rear of the car, including the engine, was destroyed, and obviously it was going to be an expensive exercise to get the car back to its competitive best.

‘‘Work could only proceed when funds were available, so it’s been a case of saving up as we went along as parts for this car are very expensive,’’ added the Devonport businessman.

White revealed that Jason had already put in 1000 hours on the rebuild and was confident that the car would be better than new when completed.

‘‘We will give it a very hard test before the event to ensure that everything is OK, which I’m sure it will be.’’

Based on previous performances and successes, the team will go into the event as favourites but face stiff opposition.

Previous winner Tony Quinn has again entered but no car or navigator has been nominated.

An R35 Nissan GTR was the weapon of choice previously but the car has been sold and he may choose to run the McLaren MP4-12C that he has campaigned in Targa New Zealand.

Former Targa Tasmania winners Steve Glenney and Bernie Webb will line up in an R35 Nissan GTR, as will last year’s modern category winners, Jamie Vandenberg and Dennis Sims, plus the West Australian crew of Ben Searcy and James Marquet.

Targa High Country winners Eddie Maguire and Michael Potter cannot be discounted in their very fast Evo 9 Mitsubishi Lancer, and if the frontrunners strike problems there are a couple of STi WRX Subarus waiting to pick up the pieces.

The local team of Ben Newman and Crichton Lewis have been leading competitors in the showroom four-wheel-drive category but are making the transition to the modern with a brand new Subaru.

An earlier STi model will be driven by Victorian Nathan Reeves, who has been a regular competitor in gravel rallies with the occasional run in Tarmac events such as Rally Tasmania. He will have experienced local navigator Reubecca Sheldrick to call the corners.

Vale Keri Simms

TARGA Tasmania and Tasmanian motor sport in general lost a committed and good friend when Keri Simms died last weekend after a long battle with cancer.

Keri was a member of the Motor Sports Club of Tasmania and held secretary and treasurer positions.

She had been a Targa official for 11 years and, despite her illness, reached her goal of becoming a stage director in last year’s event.

To Josh and Sara Ann and family and friends,  I offer our deepest sympathy on behalf of the motor sport fraternity.