Lowndes and Whincup face off on Adelaide streets

Red Bull Racing Australia drivers Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes have kicked off their 2015 Clipsal 500 Adelaide campaign with a race of a different kind as they took on members of the public in a pit stop challenge in South Australia's famous Rundle Mall.

The streets were packed with a lunchtime audience, and two lucky fans were chosen from the crowd to join the #1and #888 Holden drivers as they put their rattle gun skills to the test in a head-to-head battle to see who could change a tyre the fastest.

Six-time V8 Supercars champion Whincup reported that this unconventional method of preparation had its benefits.

"Usually it's the pit stop crew getting all the practice, but this definitely helps to get our eye for the races, which is especially important on a street circuit like Adelaide where accuracy is key. Lowndesy and I go alright!" he said.

As the winner of the inaugural event in 1999 and one of only two drivers in this year's line-up to have competed in every single Clipsal 500since, Lowndes knows a slick pit stop can make or break a race.

"We won't be quitting our day jobs, that's for sure," he said. "It's always good fun to see how we go with a rattle gun and today's been a great opportunity to get the fans involved as well."

Fresh off the back of his 2014 championship win, Whincup is positive that Red Bull Racing Australia has the tools and the team to hit the ground running, despite a lack of pace at the SuperTest earlier this month.

Withfour Clipsal 500 titles to his name, he's never one to be overlooked.

"Clipsal is one of the biggest events on the calendar and a great way to kick off another big championship," he said.

"It got away from us last year after a controversial drive through penalty in Sunday's race, but I'll never forget that battle on Saturday.

"We have done a fair bit of work after our poor showing at the SuperTest to make sure we are giving ourselves a great opportunity this weekend. We come into the event on a level playing field, but you can never discount anyone."

For Lowndes, this year's Clipsal 500 Adelaide marks a fresh start as he partners with a new race engineer in Grant McPherson after a highly successful seven years with Jeromy Moore, who is now working in Europe in the World Endurance Championship.

"Clipsal is one of the toughest races of the season. I classify it as that because you're coming out of Christmas having not had a great deal of opportunity to be inside a race car.

"Obviously this will be the first event that I'll be with Grant, my new engineer, and I'm really looking forward to getting some great success.

"It's a street circuit, temperature is always a very big factor over there, so is weather in the sense of rain, but it is a circuit where if you've had a successful weekend you get that momentum started and of course you start the championship off on a positive note. We had a great run there last year, now we're looking forward to doing it again this year."

The V8 Supercars hit the track on Friday for three practice sessions and qualifying for Saturday's two 125km races, with the gruelling 250km mini marathon following on Sunday.