BigJimny Meet 2024

At the weekend we headed towards Bradford to join in with the fun at the 2024 BigJimny meet! With over 130 Jimnys in attendance, it was the place to be for Jimny and Suzuki fans alike.

On the Friday night before the event, we made some last minute additions to our LCV Jimny. As the event was being held at Parkwood off-road centre, we felt it would be a good time to add some underbody protection to keep the Jimny's under carriage safe against any errant rocks or tree stumps.

We added a set of APIO Front and Rear Radius Arm Guards, a pair of Rear Shock Absorber Skid Guards, a Rear Differential Guard and a Carbon Canister Guard.

We also envisaged that the day could be quite muddy, so we hastily added a set of 3D Floor Mats, so that we could easily clean up any mess that we made with our mucky boots!  

After applying some APIO decals to the doors (which took much longer than we'd have liked!) it was time to pack the car and prepare for an early start on Sunday.

After a wet and windy drive around the M60 and across the M62, we arrived at Parkwood off-road centre. The view that greeted us was extraordinary - over 130 Jimnys parked up in one place!

This was a great time for a good chinwag as we caught up with customers and other Jimny owners to discuss their builds. It was nice to see some cars that we hadn't seen before, some with some extraordinary modifications.

Attracting a lot of attention were these three Jimnys from Hayai Performance in Halifax, each sporting a turbo conversion on their respective engines. After speaking with one of the owners, he explained that Hayai were unveiling the cars at the event, and this was the first time they had been shown to the public.

The kits looked nicely put together and we're looking forward to learning more about them when more information becomes available!

It was nice to spot a few customer cars amongst the line-up; Jeremy's ivory example was looking as distinctive as ever!

We also spotted a few other cars that we've come across on the internet in recent months.

Our LCV was sandwiched between a nice blue JB43 and a few Kinetic Yellow JB74's, including Arthur's example directly next to us that was sporting a lovely set of ENKEI RPT1 wheels.

After the safety briefing it was time for everyone to break formation and head down to the off-road course. It was like being stuck in the country's biggest Jimny traffic jam.

After an introductory driving tour of the venue, it was time to start discovering some of the tracks by ourselves.

The tracks were labelled according to difficulty, ranging from blue to red and black. We took a quick photo before getting stuck in - this was the cleanest the car was going to look all day!

We swapped places so Dan could have a go behind the wheel, while I could enjoy the view from the passenger seat.

We couldn't believe how capable the Jimny was, no matter how intense the conditions got. The APIO +40mm Lift Kit gave us enough ground clearance to clear every obstacle we encountered; before hitting the trails we set the 14-stage adjustable shock absorbers to their softest setting to ensure maximum compliance. In addition, not once did the BF Goodrich KO2 tyres show any signs of getting stuck, even in the deepest sections of mud. 

After a couple of hours of fun it was time for a lunch break, which gave us more time to check out some cars. This example looked absolutely fantastic, and the Front Runner Slimline II Roof Rack topped it off nicely.

I really loved this JB43 with Magpie M-01 wheels and some big tyres - what a great look!

The North West Overlander Jimny was looking great, with lots of equipment on board.

Another look at Jeremy's JB74.

This blue model looked wonderfully clean and simple, with a set of Matte Anthracite HIGH PEAK J-02 wheels and JimnyStyle Smoked LED Tail Lights. The IPF Front Bumper Lamp Stay is just visible up front.

This JB43 was a serious bit of kit! Check out the rear-mounted radiator.

This JB74 looked brilliant with its retro graphics and HIGH PEAK J-01 wheels.

Matching Front Runner Ladders!

We last came across David's Jimny at the Twisted Automotive Open Day last summer and loved the combination of the Kinetic Yellow paint and Matte Black HIGH PEAK J-01 wheels.

It was great to see the car with some mud on it this time, and the addition of the APIO "Life is Jimny" stripes on the side compliment the car nicely!

After lunch we certainly felt a bit braver with our off-roading, eventually finding ourselves in a swamp that was much deeper than first anticipated! Thankfully, we approached it very slowly, created a nice bow wave and managed to get up the other side after what felt like quite a long time!

The mud on the passenger door gave us a good indication as to how deep we got. It certainly felt deeper than that - must try harder next time!

Feeling that we might have used up our luck for the day, we set off home via a quick fuel top up. We were still picking sticks out of the front bumper mesh after its voyage through the swamp!

We made it back to our HQ safe and sound, with the first job being to get the hosepipe out and crack on with some cleaning!

Thanks again to the BigJimny team for organising a fantastic event and we're already looking forward to next year!