TOP Gear star James May is set to blast into Plymouth Sound later this month – in the first Round Britain Powerboat Race for 24 years.

The mop-haired presenter – who stars alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond on the hit BBC motoring series – is just one of 48 entrants in the prestigious race.

Powerboats of all shapes and sizes are expected to line up on the startline at Gunwharf Quay in Portsmouth on June 21 and arrive in Plymouth in the early afternoon.

Other competitors include DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles and one of the Top Gear programme's cameramen.

The 1,600-mile Round Britain Powerboat Race is being revived this summer after 24 years and its first stop-over will be in Plymouth.

Plymouth will be the focus of the world with the BBC filming it live for its news programmes and for the new Top Gear series.

A spokesman for the event said: “It will be a great spectacle for the spectator on Plymouth Hoe. The powerboats will arrive over a prolonged period of time giving the viewer plenty to look at.”

The first leg from Portsmouth will finish opposite the Hoe in Plymouth on the afternoon of Saturday June 21. The first boats are expected to arrive at around 1pm.

The fleet will stay the night moored at Mayflower Marina, where it will refuel and make necessary repairs before setting off the next morning for Milford Haven some 200 miles away.

About 300 to 400 support personnel will follow the fleet making a total number of some 500 in port that evening.

The race does not have an overall sponsor and is being funded by the competitors themselves.

The race finishes back in Portsmouth on June 30.

Competitors range from 24.5ft production motor cruisers and Ribs, to the Super class of 40-50ft boats with 23,000cc inboard engines.

According to the organisers, the Royal Navy has offered a frigate as a start boat, plus fisheries protection vessels sweeping up behind the fleet.

Other entrants include top Austrian driver Hannes Bohinc, in his Wettpunkt.Com powerboat which is fitted with twin Isotta Fraschini engines of 750hp, and one woman, Sarah Donohue.

Fabio Buzzi, from Italy, who won the last race in 1984, will be competing again this year in the historical monohull CESA, built in 1985.

Buzzi has offered the original 1969 trophy for the overall winner, originally won by Timo Mäkinen in 1969.

The Royal Yachting Association has given the old Duke of York Trophy for the first British boat and crew home.