SPRING is very much in the air, which means preparations for the Craigantlet Hill Climb are well underway.
The prestigious motorsport event was first run in 1913, when Harry Ferguson set the fastest time, and today continues to snake its way up 1,460 yards of the Belmont Road on the outskirts of east Belfast.
This year's event is on Saturday April 29. Organised by the Ulster Automobile Club, the hill climb is once again supported by Ballyrobert Vauxhall, Mazda and Lotus.
Ballyrobert marketing director Jayne Mills said: "We are looking forward to another exciting day's motorsport, and are delighted to once again be sponsoring this event."
The section of road used in the hill climb will be closed to the public from 7.30am on April 29, with first practice runs getting underway at approximately 9.30am.
Competitors are divided into classes, according to the performance of their car, and given the opportunity to record their fastest time of the day across three timed runs in the afternoon.
The current record holder is Scott Moran, with a time of 39.12 seconds, and though he cannot take part this year his rivals will be doing their best to beat his time - the specialist single-seater cars they use exceed 100mph on parts of the track.
Showroom-specification production road cars also compete, with Scottish journalist David Finlay again aiming to set a quick time.
Last year, he went quick enough in a Honda Civic Type R to earn British Hill Climb Championship points, the first time a production car had ever done this; this year, he is looking to repeat the feat, this time in a Lexus RC F.
