Adelaide: Jack Daniel's Racing practice report

HILLTOP HOODS GET V8 RIDE WITH TODD KELLY AT CLIPSAL 500

Adelaide-born music act the Hilltop Hoods have experienced a thrilling ride in Todd Kelly's #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide today.

Todd Kelly, a big fan of the hip-hop group, was excited to take MC Pressure and DJ Debris for some hot laps around the Adelaide street circuit today, shortly before the pair were to join fellow band member MC Suffa on-stage in the Friday evening concert at the Clipsal 500.

The ARIA-award winning group, who have two previous Australian number one albums to their credit, are also keen motorsport fans and were understandably thrilled following their rides.

In practice for the Clipsal 500 today Todd Kelly was 15th fastest on combined times with Jack Daniel's Racing team-mate Rick Kelly in 17th position on the timesheets. Neither driver set a fast lap on new tyres today, with the focus on tomorrow's opening qualifying session of the weekend,

Jamie Whincup was fastest in Clipsal 500 practice today ahead of Shane van Gisbergen and Paul Dumbrell.

JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD

On The Hilltop Hoods going for a ride with Todd Kelly in Adelaide today ...

BAZ - DJ Debris:

"It was exhilarating. Just crazy. I think it was the braking that thrilled me more than the actual speed.

"You're going pretty quick and you see a corner and go 'argh!'

"I didn't really get to look around much. I was kind of focused straight ahead. It's amazing to do that in my home town for the first time."

DAN - MC Pressure:

"It was amazing. I didn't realise what a bad driver I am!"

"It's quite a different experience. You don't realise how powerful they are and how skilled the drivers are until you get in that seat.

"I think I need to trade in my car. I'm in awe of the event. Clipsal is a full on-event and it's always been well-spoken about.

"They put on such a massive event. It's awesome.

TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"That was cool," said Todd Kelly.

"That's one of the benefits of doing what we do. You get to do some pretty cool stuff.

"I'm a big fan and I've got all their songs on my iPod. I went and saw them when they played at Bathurst, so to take them for a ride in my Jack Daniel's Commodore was just awesome. I hope they enjoyed it."

On practice at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide today ...

RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"Day one here the plan all along here was to use just one set of tyres," said Rick Kelly.

"The Jack Daniel's Commodore again wasn't ideal out of the box but it wasn't too bad.

"We had some braking dramas early but we seemed to fix those towards the end of the day.

"The car came good and we managed to sort it mid-session. At one point we were in P4 on the timesheets until people starting putting on new rubber, which we didn't do.

"I think we've got a decent qualifying car so we just need to work on it just a little bit for the race. We've got some changes we want to make overnight and so far it's mission accomplished and the weekend is going to plan."

TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"We tried a fair bit of stuff that we don't ordinarily run in the car today," said Todd Kelly.

"We've got a lot of new stuff that we are trying to develop, to further ourselves as a team, and it probably went a lot better than what I thought.

"It was a lot of work with a lot of stuff to get our heads round. It handles like a completely different car so we knew we'd never just come and be on the front row.

"When you're taking such a different approach to setting the car up you need to work on it but it's a lot better than what I expected.

"By the end of the weekend and over the next few events we can learn a fair bit of stuff and move forward from what our pace is at the moment."

-source: kelly racing