The countdown to TT 2024 is finally over.

The first Mountain Course action of this year’s event is scheduled to take place later today.

But the clerk of the course has confirmed a four-hour delay to today’s schedule due to low cloud and wet conditions from overnight rain.

Roads around the TT course will now close at 2pm and newcomers will now get their first taste of the iconic 37 3/4 miles at 2.40pm.

A series of untimed sessions follow for all solo classes, plus the sidecars before the timing systems are officially turned on this evening as qualifying week begins in earnest.

The Supersport and Supertwin machines will get things under way at 5.15pm, followed by the 1,000cc machines an hour later. The sidecars follow at 7.20pm.

Evening qualifying sessions are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with a further afternoon session planned for Friday.

Racing begins on Saturday (June 1), with further race days planned for Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of next week, continuing the new format first introduced last year.

The weather unfortunately looks like it won’t be as kind as 12 months ago, with forecasters warning of a mixed start to the festival at the very least.

Indeed organisers have already had to deal with blown over paddock tents and waterlogged car parks hindering the Grandstand’s set-up in recent days.

2023 was certainly a year to remember not least because of the stunning weather, with Peter Hickman breaking the outright lap record in the week’s second Superstock race.

Thirteen-time victor Hickman and Michael Dunlop dominated the solo races last year, winning them all between them.

Dunlop’s tally of four wins took him to 25 TT victories overall, moving him to only one behind his Uncle Joey’s record tally of 26.

In the sidecars, Ben and Tom Birchall continued their domination of the three-wheeled action winning both races and setting a staggering new lap record of 120.645 mph.

The latter, however, made the shock decision to retire from racing in the winter and Ben will be partnered by Frenchman Kevin Rousseau for this year’s event.

This will give the other leading sidecar crews hope that Birchall’s spell on the class can finally be broken.

One thing is for sure, the TT is never dull so brace yourself for another two weeks of exhilarating action around the Mountain Course.

- A full preview of both the solo and sidecar classes featured in issue one of TT News, which was free inside last week’s Manx Independent.

- Sign up for our free TT newsletter, Full Throttle, at eepurl.com/inSahk