Bathurst 1000: Ricky Kelly takes wheel as Russell Ingall’s ‘Silver Bullet’ makes welcomed comeback
Fans voted have emphatically for the legendary ‘Silver Bullet’ to make a return at this year’s Bathurst 1000 and Rick Kelly is the driver who cannot wait to get behind the wheel in the contemporary version.
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The “Silver Bullet’’ is set to return to Mount Panorama this week with Rick Kelly to drive a recreation of the famous car after fans voted for a re-run of the Russell Ingall classic.
Launched at Mount Panorama on Wednesday alongside Ingall’s original 2000 Holden VT Commodore, Kelly will drive a Nissan Altima version of the “Silver Bullet’’ that pays tribute to the fan favourite formerly driven by Ingall.
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Nissan fans voted emphatically for the “Silver Bullet’’ to make a return at this year’s Bathurst 1000, beginning with practice on Thursday, with the Ingall classic beating the Perkins Engineering “Saw Tooth’’ in an online poll.
“Today we’ve taken the covers off the Silver Bullet-inspired retro livery that myself and Dale Wood will be running for the Bathurst 1000,’’ Kelly said.
“The fans have done a great job in picking a livery that looks great but is also pretty retro and judging by the response from the fans on the mountain our paint and graphics departments have done a pretty good job of adapting the Silver Bullet to the Nissan Altima.
“For me this weekend is all about having fun and enjoying what is the biggest weekend in our sport and to kick it off by revealing this livery at the top of Mount Panorama with all of the fans here is really cool.”
“Over the years I’ve had a fair bit of success here at the mountain and Castrol was supporting me back then so to have their continued support now and be able to do cool initiatives like this and involve the fans is great for our partnership.
“Myself and Dale are now really looking forward to hitting the track on Thursday, this event is always a big challenge both physically and mentally for the drivers but at the same time it’s such a special place to drive around so any time you can do laps here is a good experience.”
Ingall was on-hand to help unveil the modern recreation of his classic.
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“The Silver Bullet in its day was definitely a crowd favourite and glad to see it still is now,’’ Ingall said.
“My time at Castrol Perkins Racing was a pretty special part of my career so to see those colours here today and racing around the Mountain is going to bring back some great memories.
“Have to thank the fans for picking this Castrol livery and hopefully will see it cross the line on the podium.”
Originally published as Bathurst 1000: Ricky Kelly takes wheel as Russell Ingall’s ‘Silver Bullet’ makes welcomed comeback
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