Kelly Brothers Go Retro in Bathurst Road Trip in Nissan Bluebird

Although some might mistake the two 80s hipsters in the above photo for Torque News' own John Goreham and Patrick Rall, they're actually Todd and Rick Kelly of Nissan NISMO in Australia. The two V8 Supercars racers follow a yearly tradition of taking a Nissan Australia promotional vehicle to the Bathurst circuit. This year, they chose the 1982 Bluebird as their ride and dressed in retro gear to do it.

The car, owned by restorer Peter Rowlston, is a Nissan Bluebird TRX, an iconic 80s car from the company's lineup of the period. The two racers met up with six other Nissan drivers at the Bathurst circuit for Australia's climax motor race.

The Kelly Brothers, for those who aren't familiar with V8 Supercars, are owner/drivers as part of Nissan Motorsport's V8 Supercars operation in Australia. They're also returning champions to the Bathurst circuit.

The Bluebird TRX is also an important car at this year's event as this year marks the 30th anniversary of the record-breaking, pole-sitting lap time in the 1984 Bathurst 1000 - set by the aptly named and well-remembered George Fury. His turbocharged Bluebird broke the lap record with a time of 2 minutes, 13.85 seconds and shattered the long dominance of Ford and General Motors at the event.

It wasn't until 1991 that Fury's record was finally broken and it took a Nissan GT-R R32 to do it.

Practice sessions for the Bathurst 1000 began today with qualifying coming tomorrow and the race this weekend. The Bathurst 1000 is marked by a traditional Top 10 Shootout race in the afternoon followed by Sunday's 161-lap, 1000 kilometer race.