Historic Hill Climb 2014

Hundreds of spectators turned out Saltburn's historic hill climb and motor gathering event.

The annual Saltburn vintage hill climb took place on Sunday - with numerous classic cars and motorbikes taking part.

The event - a non-competitive speed and time trial for vintage cars and motorcycles - had run as a competitive event for many years until 2004 when it was halted due to clauses in road safety legislation barring such trials on public highways.

Supporters of the historic motor racing event have since campaigned tirelessly for its resurrection.

And it seems their hard work may pay off later this year - with the legislation possibly to be overturned this autumn.







“At the moment it is a non-competitive event for road legal vehicles - they have to be taxed and insured,” said Dave Ransome, past president of Middlesbrough Motor Club.

“But where we are with the Road Traffic Act is that all political parties have agreed it will happen and they are going through the motion of approving the law for competitive events to happen once again."

“We expect that will happen in the autumn.”

But Dave said that this does not mean that the existing event will be abandoned.

“It has become a really popular event,” he said. “So what we will be looking at doing is possibly running an additional event now that this historic gathering is so popular.”

Over 1,000 people turned out for Sunday’s event, which was held at Cat Nab car park.

As well as the gathering, where vehicles from the early 1900s up to 1975 are on display, the cars and motorbikes also make the quarter-mile hill climb to Rushpool Hall one by one.

“It has been fantastic,” said Dave.

“We always get a good crowd here in Saltburn.”

Some background history of the Hill Climb

Bollywood by the Sea

The striking coastline of Saltburn provided the backdrop as a touch of Bollywood glamour came to Teesside.

The cast and crew of Shaandaar, a new Bollywood movie currently in production, chose Saltburn’s beach, promenade and famous pier as a location to shoot yesterday.







Billed as a comedy which sees two Indian families coming together for a big wedding, the film features Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor.

Assistant director Karl Hall said that the coast was the perfect place to shoot footage.

“We are mainly doing establishing shots and cutaways, but we have the main characters here as well and we’re doing some dialogue,” he said.

“We are splitting the shooting between England, Mumbai and Poland and a lot of the English scenes have been done in Leeds and West Yorkshire.

“When we needed to find a coastal location, Saltburn had been recommended and it was a great choice. It looks great on camera.”

The film will be primarily aimed at the Asian market, but Mr Hall said that Bollywood releases are also huge in Britain.

“It goes under the radar a little bit in the UK, but it is a huge industry," he added. "Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor are really big stars.”

Around 80 to 90 members of the cast and crew spent yesterday in Saltburn and some local flavour was added to the filming. Mr Hall said: “I’m not sure how many extras we had, but I’m sure that some of them were local.”