This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Manx Classic car event with a three-day hill climb meeting on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The inaugural event took place in September 1989 in what was the revival of the Manx Classic Speed Trials last held in 1965.

Early events consisted of a hill climb from Hillberry to Keppel Gate on the Thursday and a Classic Pursuit round the old Willaston Course (used previously in the 1950s).

Practice sessions took place on the Friday, with ’racing’ the following day, ending with a gala evening and prize-giving ceremony at the Villa Marina.

The event attracted an excellent entry with some top-class classic cars - notably ERA, Bugatti, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Riley single-seater racing cars, plus dozens more fabulous machines from Frazer Nases to Lagonda V12s and a plethora of splendid Bentleys.

With static displays of classic cars and entertainment behind the TT Grandstand, coupled with perfect weather, the inaugural Merlin Manx Classic was a huge success.

In later years it was split into two separate events with the hill climb element in the Spring and the Willaston Sprint continuing in the early Autumn before it came to an end after the cancellation in 2001 because of the Foot & Mouth outbreak in the UK.

The Manx Classic name lives on with the three-day hill climb event in April each year and entries for this year’s event are very strong.

Organised by Manx Motor Racing Club it will again consist of three National B Hillclimb events.

It begins on Thursday with the 1.06-mile Sloc Hillclimb (with road closure times 9am to no later than 5.30pm), continuing on Friday with the 1.39-mile Creg Willey’s Hillclimb in the Glen Helen area (9am to 5pm).

The three-day meeting will conclude on Saturday with the Lhergy Frissell Hillclimb between the outskirts of Ramsey to a point slightly above the Gooseneck on the Snaefell Mountain [TT] Course.

This is the longest event of its type in the British Isles at a distance of 1.48 miles.

Roads for this event will close from 9am until no later than 6pm.

Driver registration and car scrutineering takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) at the TT Grandstand, between 3 and 7pm.

There will be a wide range of cars, dating back to the Edwardian period built between 1905 and 1918, in addition to a variety of Bugattis, pre-1941 three-wheelers and a selection of un-supercharged cars of various capacity.

Of the more modern era, there are pre-1968 classics, pre-1981 classics, post-1981 road saloon and sports cars, sports libre and kit cars up to and over 2000cc, plus an invitation class class for open-wheeled racing cars.

Additional classes for five or more individual marques or models may also be included.