Sunday 20th of February

@ Parkwood 4x4 Centre, Tong, Yorkshire

Sunday the 20th of February 2011, and Martin and Jamie of www.BigJimny.com had organised the 2011 "Jimny Meet"

This being an attempt to get as many offroad Jimnys to gather to beat Marat & Co's gathering -

And so, 6:30am and..

... I'm on the road, the A55 coast road from my home in North Wales,

 On the M56 on my way to the Little Chef, I overtook and then fell in behind Brett to follow him there...

 ... to the venue, Parkwood Offroad Centre, in - and also known as - "Tong"! 

 Count the Jimnys!...

 More...

(Right to Left in above picture - Andy, Mine, Brett & Gary)

And more...

Think I made it 24!!!

Gathering for a pep-talk from the site owner...

 And, we're off...!

Our little convoy of four Jimnys...

Normally 3 Jimnys and my Vitara "Stealth", and lately Kev's too, but today it's Jimny's...

So today I'm in the "BT54VTS" Jimny with it's new 2" Trail Master Lift Kit!

Starting with some gentle blue routes...

The routes are blue, red and black depending on the spec of vehicles.

Some deep bombholes full of water...

And along the back perimeter wall of the 100 acre offroad site!

Steep banks.

 ... and deep water were the order of the day!

Martin, one of the organisers, taking pictures of all the vehicles in attendance.

And here's the photo he took!

 

 

Through the woods.

 More rutted tracks with deep puddles.

No snorkel on my Jimny so I'll be avoiding the really deep water!

A queue for one of the obstacles...

 Brett and Andy behind me...

In the Trail Master branded Jimny!

 With the new BT54VTS personal plate!

The next obstacle was a deeply rutted stepped bombhole, full of muddy water...

I had a good go at it, but couldn't quite crest the top of it! 

 Martin, making light work of it...

Couldn't help but wish I had "Stealth" the Vitara with me...

But, never-the-less, I, and a lot of others, were impressed at where the little Jimny went!

Driver Skill?  ... and the Trail Master kit and the Maxxis Trepador chunky tyres* of course!

*Although having them standard size (so as not to effect the gearing) left the diffs close to the ground, and scraping a bit where bigger trucks have worn the ruts deep and the central hump a little high!

Down a steep bank...

 ... and grounded out!

Gary backs up to me and gives me a tug with his locker-equipped Jimny.

 

Stuck again in a deep rutted climb, I got the front wheels up, but then scraped the diffs on the ground...

... Brett attaches a bridle to the front two towing (lashdown) brackets, to spread the load...

 ... whilst Gary spools the winch out...

And we're ready for a little tug of the winch to get me up and over...

Brett with wireless winch remote, watching the progress.

 View from my seat.

Brett's out of his truck and inspecting the route ahead,

so I jumped out for a photo-op... only...

 You can't see the logo, so I wiped the mud off it!

The route turned out to be a black one, so...

I took an adjacent red route, and met them at the bottom.

(They've got 3" lifts, lockers and crawler boxes!)

Following Brett through the woods some more...

... but then I decided to peel off for a bit and let the other three go drive some black routes,

whilst I wandered around taking some pictures...

But in a 100 acre woods (Winnie the Pooh?!) it's hard to find everyone!

 But then I spotted a silver Jimny coming down the slope I got stuck on earlier,

when Gary tugged me out.

 He's obviously got more lift / bigger tyres and makes it down unaided...

Errr, but then drives into a swamp!

So I rang Brett to see if he could assist...

 tow rope and a Locker, and he's soon out!

... and towed up the hill too!

At this point I jumped into Andy's Big Jimny for a ride...

More Jimnys going the other way...

Following Brett through the woods...

 I grounded out earlier where the silver Jimny is... but made it after a couple of attempts...

 Into a black run...

 And round the corner on a steep rutted climb, Brett blows a shaft!

With drive lost to the front, Gary tugs him out...

Back in the car park, Rus' gets a tow in, having blown something similar too...

 

End of a fantastic day... at the exit.

Having washed the plates and lights to keep things legal, and it's time to head for home!

Many thanks to Martin and Jamie for organising the day!

Nice to meet friendly faces old and new!

And thanks to Brett, Gary and Andy for looking after me in my "little Jimny"!

Very impressed with the Trail Master kit! The little Jimny went more places than I expected it to, and I drove more routes than I intended too as well, the plan to have potter round and then spend most of the time taking photos of others soon went out of the window, and I spent much of the day driving the blue routes, the red routes, and even a few of the black routes!

A Top Day!