THE big 100 will be celebrated at Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb as the first meeting of the 2005 season gets underway on Saturday and Sunday.

With the high point of the season a three-day meeting in August, this weekend's bumper entry will see cars and drivers bed themselves in to the famous 1,000-yard hill.

They will be preparing their skills for what promises to be the best season in a century of hill climbing at the venue between Clifton and Great Witley.

A variety of cars, mainly modified road-going vehicles like Audi Quattros, Metro 6R4 rally cars, Mitsubishi Evos, Caterhams and Westfields, will supply the action on Saturday.

The Michelin Porsche Club Speed Championship sees 24 cars all jostling for class position over their two timed runs in the afternoon. Porsche 911s, 924s, Carreras and the stunning Porsche 993RSR will all be on show from the Stuttgart manufacturer.

For earlier motoring and Monte Carlo Rally wins, the Austin Healey 3000 cars will stir some memories together with the Frazer Nash class, including the GN Spider that held the outright record at Shelsley in the 1920s.

Sunday looks equally interesting with classes for TVRs, Westfields, Triumphs, modified road cars and quick single-seater racing cars.

Hereford's Deryk Young is a former Best-Time-of-the-Day driver at Shelsley Walsh and this year he has a new Gould racing car in his garage.

It is the same car that held the record on the hill in the hands of Graeme Wight Jnr but Young has put another engine in the vehicle, a 4.0 V8 with about 600 hp.

His wife Sue will drive the car too over both days and is the current ladies' hill record holder in 26.98 seconds after a great run last September.

Practice on both days is at 9.30am with timed class runs at 2pm. Entry is £10 each day or free to Midland Automobile Club (MAC) members.

n There is a brand new Shelsley Walsh book hitting the shelves in the next few days.

The Shelsley Walsh Story -- A Century of Motorsport has been written by Simon Taylor who has been editor of Autosport, BBC Radio's commentator on F1 and ITV's F1 pundit.

Taylor has seen a great deal of motorsport all over the globe but his favourite venue has always been Shelsley Walsh where he continues to compete in his historic HWM Chevrolet.

n Entries are already pouring in for the August 21 meeting at Shelsley Walsh.

The cream of the modern F1-powered cars, former hill climb champions and snapshots of cars from every era since 1905 will be on show.

Big screen television and mouth-watering car displays in the paddock and car park are also booked.