Call in the professionals

Given it hatched the plan in the first place, it's no surprise the centre of Team Skoda Carsales is a certain white Octavia RS wagon. Specifically, it's perhaps the most written about Skoda on Aussie shores today. Though it started life as a regular DSG-equipped turbo petrol RS, Project RS-P spearheaded the local launch of the facelifted Octavia RS in mid-2009. Built as a hero car for the brand, it was never meant to be a race or rally car -- it was built to grab attention.

But the basics were there -- and pretty respectable from a street performance point of view. What we had to do quick smart was to enlist the help of some real rally experts to change the car from replica to race.

Team Skoda Carsales entrusted that job to a team with impeccable references located in Melbourne's outer south eastern suburbs. When we mention the company Performance Parts and Engineering (PPE) you'll be forgiven if a light bulb doesn't go off. What about the name TMR?

PPE is a small arm's length operation that draws on the expertise of longtime motorsport frontrunner, Team Mitsubishi Ralliart. Headed by Craig Tulloch, PPE undertakes specialist racecar build and motorsport event support projects independent of the TMR operation. Trained TMR's Pete West, extensive personal experience and cumulatively dozens of Targa campaigns upon which Craig could draw, we knew we were in the right hands.

Tulloch was given the task of organising and overseeing the car's build for PPE. Co-driver Justin Hunt would handle the logistics and I'd provide the comic relief -- in the right-hand seat... We were in business. But the clock was ticking...

First thing we had to decide was what we were building.

One look at the Targa rulebook told us that while relatively minor in rally car terms, the modifications already made to the RS-P essentially ruled Team Skoda Carsales out of competing in the burgeoning Showroom category at the Tasmanian event.

Attracting a growing range of entries, including official factory support, the Showroom class allows changes to suspension and some other areas, but essentially requires the powertrain, brakes, etc to remain standard. Though this class would have been our first choice (it also includes a separate front-wheel drive class which would have suited the RS), as the RS-P already had received brake and engine/ECU upgrades, it would also have required expensive re-engineering. On a tight budget -- in terms of time and money -- this was out.

Could we risk 'ignoring' some of the rules? Not if we were going to run with Skoda's blessing or Alan's... Unlike some other cars that will inevitably front the starter next week we agreed we had to be squeaky clean.

So the choice was made for us -- we'd be lumped in with the modified all-wheel drives and exotica in the modified Modern category.

A 'stocktake' of the RS-P was not all bad news, however. Fitted with fully adjustable KW suspension, strut braces front and rear, and big VW Golf/Passat R32/36 sourced brakes, it had potential said the PPE team. Craig's positive can-do attitude was important -- by now we had less than four weeks to bring it to the fore.

And he didn't muck about... Less than 24 hours after we agreed on the basic specification and build budget, RS-P was in 'two halves' -- a rolling 'half' with a fully stripped cabin ready for its rollcage and a static 'half' of interior, trim and other items stacked neatly in shelves of PPE's Hallam (Vic) workshop.

Finally it started to really sink in -- Skoda and Carsales ARE going to Targa.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at www.carsales.mobi