BigJimny Meet 2021

This was the event I was aiming to make, I wanted the Jimny Buggy ready for this… Last year was the 50th Anniversary of the “Jimny” when you count the LJ, SJ, Gen 3 and Gen 4 versions that had been sold – around the world – and known as the “Jimny”, due to COVID the event was postponed to 2021, and I aimed to be there, in the buggy! 😉

Martin Lines who runs the BigJimny.com website / forum / shop had designed a Rally Plate inspired logo –

I myself couldn’t help but notice there was something missing from the progression of the species – from left to right – the LJ, the SJ, the Gen 3 and finally the latest release of Jimny brand, the Gen 4…

So I saved the logo, and edited it…!

That’s better! I moved the vehicles around slightly, copy and pasted the Gen 3 and then reformatted as an outline of the Jimny Buggy! 😉

I then got them made as stickers and emblazoned on a yellow T-shirt for the event! 🙂

And he stickers were applied to the bonnet –

And

Some JimnyBits stickers were added to the bonnet edges, as a lot of Rus’s company’s parts are fitted under the buggy…

And on the doors 😉
Just before the show, the Rally Plate logos arrived, they weren’t small stickers as I’d expected, but proper plates made from this plastic sheet and came with ty-wraps to attach them… given the shape of the front of the buggy this was difficult for me to attach, so…

I started cutting up some aluminium chequer plate…

Cut and formed, and mounted on two of the existing mudguard bracket’s bolts…

That’ll do nicely! 😉

Ok! We’re ready…
The actual event date came…

I arranged to meet Brett at the VOSA inspection area just before the start of the M56, and we travelled up together in our little convoy of two…

Reasonable weather along the way, some light drizzle, and some fog over the top of the Yorkshire Moors…

.. and joined the 80 or so assembled Jimnys…

Brett’s “Jalapeno” green Jimny to the left of the buggy…

A drone shot from the air.. an impressive collection of Jimnys! and out front on the gravel section one example of each of the generation models 🙂

We then had a speech from Martin –

.. up on a pedestal where he belongs 😉 Well done that man for putting on such a good event!
He even had the gaul to suggest that the event had had to be delayed for a year – not because of COVID – but to give me the chance to at last finish a buggy project! 😉

All the Jimnys looking on 😉
We were then let out to enjoy the excellent “Parkwood 4×4” site at Tong. Bradford (my favourite site) where the event was being held…

A few of our little “Jimny Jauntz” group ventured onto what must have been a motorcycle track (the site is used by a wide range of offroad vehicles!) as it was a little narrow even for our Jimnys, and for the first time my rear mounted winch was called into action to give…

… Brett (who was leading as usual) a little tug away from that tree that was threatening to steal his rear window’s glass!…
Pleased with that the winch worked well!

After that we were all too busy playing in the woods and I didn’t take many photos 😦

At one point though –

I managed to rip mu mud flap off and had to stop for some emergency repairs – THANKS to James (Lines – Martin’s son) for the ty-wraps to pull it back into shape!

Later on… on my own, I was following what I thought was a red route (they were all categorized in severity ranging from blue, through red, to black routes for seriously modified vehicles), but after descending a steep bank –

… I found there was no way I was fitting through the trees unless I was on two wheels again, so I was forced to get the winch out again…

… and find a suitably well planted tree as an anchor to winch and rev my way back up the bank!

Safely back at the top… time to find my way back to the car park and have a well earned cuppa after that!!
I carried on until 3.30pm before noticing that a good few of the others had departed for home to watch the England ‘v’ Italy football match (no comment!), so I wandered off home too…

… going the right way – into North Wales – whilst all the tourists were going home, also probably to watch the footie…

I got home at 5.30pm but found no-one home as the wife and our two daughters were out for drinks and Tapas… so I,

… got back in the buggy and shot off to my favourite car wash to get all the Yorkshire mud off, and then went home, parked the buggy up back in the garage, and took our two Labradors for a nice walk…

A fantastic day out, socialising with all the other like-minded Jimny enthusiasts, admiring all the different Jimnys, putting names to faces of some of the other BigJimny forum members, and enjoying my favourite offroad site… BUT, as Brett remarked later, it does remind him, and I, why we swapped to greenlaning now we’re older and wiser… Offroad “Pay’n’Play” sites can be very damaging…

Well done Martin and James for a fantastic event, and to Lambert one of the moderators on the forum for marshalling, and a few of the Parkwood marshals for all there help on the day… and not forgetting the butty / burger van for coming at the eleventh hour and keeping us topped up with reasonably priced good food and countless cuppas! 😉

30/07/21 – Additional Photos have appeared from others at the show –