Kellys keep it in the family.

Brothers Todd and Rick Kelly have opened the doors on one of Australian sport's most ambitious projects with the launch of a new four-car V8 Supercar team.

Impressive state-of-the-art facilities in Braeside will house two Jack Daniel's-backed Holden Commodores to be driven by the Kelly brothers, a Dodo-backed Holden driven by Jack Perkins and a fourth, as yet unbacked, entry to be driven by Dale Wood. The project comes with the blessing and major support of Holden, and marks a decade of involvement for the family by making Todd and Rick the only owner-drivers in the V8 Supercar series.

"We are extremely excited to have built what we have from scratch by combining ten years of family knowledge, some first class sponsorship partners and the passion and enthusiasm of the Kelly Racing employees," Todd, who carried Jack Daniel's colours last season, commented, "Holden has been critical in the whole process and are providing significant support as we drive forward with all of our plans.

"The enthusiasm and morale around our race shop is just awesome and everyone is itching to get out on the race track. This is by far the most exciting time of my racing career and to put together what we have in a pretty short period of time is outstanding and an absolute credit to all our guys. Jack Daniel's is a fantastic company and brand to be in partnership with and to have solid support from Dodo for Jack is very pleasing this early in our development."

Brother Rick, who raced for the HSV squad in 2008, believes the new concept is going to be a significant change for his career and one he cannot wait to tackle head-on.

"This is something very different from what I have been used to and it brings me to a new chapter in my career," he said, "I am looking forward to being able to have more input and involvement in the day-to-day operations as well as race weekends.

"I think everyone involved in this programme over the last few months has learnt a lot about teamwork and if the passion being shown behind the doors at Kelly Racing is any indication, then I think we are going to be competitive."

The Jack Daniel's Racing Holdens will hit the track at Winton tomorrow [Tuesday] for a initial shakedown, before all four Kelly Racing entries return for an official V8 Supercar test day on Monday 9 March. Todd will drive the #7 Commodore, while Rick will have the familiar #15 on the side of his black-and-white machine when they make their race debuts at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide in three weeks' time..

A common team and naming rights sponsor means that the Kelly brothers will not only have a major presence on track all season, but will also combine to form one of the strongest driver pairings for the annual endurance events at Phillip Island and Bathurst. Holden Motorsport boss Simon McNamara reckons that Kelly Racing will give the marque's fans plenty to cheer about throughout the year.

"Todd and Rick Kelly have been tremendous ambassadors for Holden, Holden Motorsport and our associated brands for many years," he noted, "Both drivers have been successful in their own right and possess so many of the key elements needed to be successful in this business."

Remarkably, the brothers have only raced together twice before, when they shared the HSV Toll Commodore that took second place at Bathurst, having previously teamed up at Sandown.

Jack Daniel's moves into its fourth year of involvement in the V8 Supercar ranks, having started with Perkins Racing in 2006, and teams up with Kelly Racing after Larry Perkins brought an end to his racing operations to concentrate on the engineering side of his business at the end of last year. Brown-Forman, owners of the Jack Daniel's trademark, confirmed its support of the new Kelly team via Australian MD Michael McShane, and the announcement extends Todd's relationship with the brand into a second year, having switched from HRT to the black-and-white #7 machine last season.

"I had an instant bond with Jack Daniel's and its key personnel last season at Perkins Racing, and it's fantastic that they have joined us as our naming-rights partner," he said, "Jack Daniel's is one of the strongest brands in the world and we are privileged to have it on the side of our cars in our debut season.

"Jack Daniel himself once said in reference to his Tennessee whiskey 'every day we make it, we'll make it the best we can', and I guess that, if we take the same attitude into our new racing operation, we can only move forward."

"The support we have had from Jack Daniel's as we have gone through the tough months of establishing our own team has been incredible," 2006 series champion Rick added, "This is obviously an exciting year for our entire family because we have the responsibility of our own team, Todd and I get to race together as team-mates in V8 Supercar and we have all that to share with Jack Daniel's and everyone associated with the brand."

The younger of the brothers also pointed out, however, that there would no deferring to seniority.

"Todd and I will be racing each other as hard as ever but, from now on, I guess we will be a little happier if the other one manages a big result," he laughed.