Michael Dunlop will ride replica of the first motorcycle to set a 100mph lap on the TT Mountain Circuit, the 1957 500cc Gilera four ridden by Bob McIntyre, at the 2016 Classic TT and it on displayed at Motorcycle Live at the NEC to mark the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the event.

The bike, fitted with an elegant ‘dustbin’ fairing in hand-beaten aluminium, has been built by the Kay family in the West Midlands, creators of the 350 and 500cc MV-Agusta triples that have won three Classic TTs. Show visitors can see the bike on the TT and Classic TT stand until the show finishes on November 27.

McIntyre, a Scot who was 28 at the time of the 1957 TT, thrilled the crowd when he took the twin-cam, two-valve Gilera around the 37.73-mile circuit at 101.03mph, and then raised this to 101.12mph later in the race. For years afterwards, the calibre of a TT rider was measured by whether he had bettered the 100mph, and if so, by how much.

Exciting plans for the Kay Gilera during the 2017 Classic TT period include appearances at the Jurby Festival on August 27 and a lap of the Mountain Circuit in the Parade of Honour on August 28, both times wearing the dustbin fairing. But first the bike will have to survive the four-lap Senior Classic TT on August 26, when the rules demand that it will run with a conventional open-wheel fairing.

“We’re going to try and set another 100mph lap with the bike, to commemorate the 1957 lap,” Mark Kay said. “We haven’t decided on a rider yet. It needs to be someone who is sympathetic to older machinery, and who accepts that the bike isn’t a race winner. We’d be happy if it could finish in the top ten.”