Nine-time winner Charlie Williams will mark the 50th anniversary of his first TT victories with a special demonstration lap later this week.

Having graduated from the Manx Grand Prix, where he won the Lightweight race in 1971, beating Phil Carpenter and local rider Danny Shimmin, the Cheshire star had his maiden TT success in the 1973 Production 250cc race.

A few days later he added a second with top honours in the Lightweight 250cc race over close friend and rival John Williams.

To celebrate those victories, Williams – who now hosts hospitality guests of the TT Mercury Club – will lead a demonstration lap this Saturday, June 3, riding a 350cc Maxton Yamaha.

The bike is a replica of the machine Charlie rode when he finished third in the epic 1979 Classic race that saw Alex George beat Mike Hailwood by 3.4 seconds in what was Hailwood’s final TT appearance.

The race was also significant for Williams as he set the quickest official lap by a 350cc machine with a speed of 112.348mph – a record which stood for eight years.

Williams was one of the most successful riders at the TT in the 1970s and early 1980s. Although more regularly associated with 250cc and 350cc machines, he also enjoyed strong results on the larger capacity machines which included a runner-up finish in the 1977 Classic to Mick Grant (then for 750cc machines) and again in the 1979 Formula One on a Honda to the factory version of George.

One of his most impressive laps came in the 1982 Senior when he set a lap record average speed of 115.08mph on what was effectively a 350cc Yamaha up against the 500cc RG Suzukis of leading finishers Norman Brown, Jon Ekerold, Dennis Ireland and Phil Read.

Charlie had almost retired at the Ginger Hall when his bike mysteriously stopped. But after several minutes he was alerted to a kinked petrol pipe under the tank. With the issue sorted, he remounted to finish 13th.

In total Williams competed in 52 TT races, taking nine victories (three of them world championship GPs) and stood on the podium no fewer than 20 times.

His last race over the Mountain Course was the 2014 Classic Manx Grand Prix when he finished ninth at an average speed of 99.111mph on a Manx Norton.