SPEAK to anyone from the Jack Daniels Racing outfit ahead of this year’s Bathurst 1000 and there is no question about what their biggest issue will be once things kick off with practice tomorrow.

Straight line speed.

Twenty-one years after Nissan last visited Mount Panorama – and won courtesy of Jim Richards and Mark Skaife – Todd Kelly will line up alongside co-driver David Russell at the iconic race while Rick Kelly will be partnered by Karl Reindler.

So far 2013 has been a mixed year for the team as they attempt to find their feet in the category once more. 

How the two Nissan Altimas handle the long straights up and down the track will play a large part in where they finish.

“There are a lot of huge unknowns coming here, but the speed down the straights and how our fuel economy goes are the big ones,” Todd Kelly said after the team arrived in Bathurst yesterday.

“You really don’t know how things are going to go until you get on the track. This place is so different to Sandown, the stuff at the top of the circuit and how the car handles is just so important.

“We know we will be fast up the top if we get our set up right, but it is going to be a question of how fast we can go in a straight line and about our fuel economy.”

Both Kelly brothers have tasted success at the track in the past, Todd with Skaife and the Holden Racing Team in 2005 and Rick in 2003-04 alongside Greg Murphy at K-Mart Racing.

But 2013 has presented a whole new challenge and with Nissan’s sole victory coming through David Moffat, the Jack Daniels team know they are going to battle to push the likes of Triple Eight and the Holden Racing Team.

At the Sandown 500, Todd Kelly and Russell managed to finish 11th while Reindler partnered Rick Kelly to 16th.

“I don’t really like to go in with any expectations,” Rick Kelly said.

“There are a lot of challenges in front of us and as we’ve acknowledged one of those is the issue of straight line speed, that’s obviously a weakness, but at the same time we think we’ve got some of our own strengths as well.

“Karl did a fantastic job at Sandown and kept a lot of cars with more speed behind him, so I’m confident he can play a big role again this week.”

In terms of the overall championship, Rick Kelly has managed a respectable 13th so far which in theory is a strong enough result considering the sort of head-start Nissan are giving away to Holden and Ford.

However, the driver himself isn’t as enthusiastic about his results to date.

“Not really, no. I used to be known as a Mr Consistency, but that hasn’t been the case this year,” he said.

“We have done a lot of testing and research on how to make the car more consistent, but so far this year no-one in the championship has really been able to stay at the same level the whole way through.

“At the moment, the cars are so evenly matched that if you’re just a few tenths of a second off where you should be, you drop 10 or 12 spots, whereas in the past it has only been two or three.

“Finding that consistency is the biggest thing ahead of us.”