Tribes of the Territory: One of Alice Springs’ favourite sons, Jordi Little, ready for the biggest day of his life
BORN and bred Alice Springs boy and motorsport star Jordi Little became a social media sensation when he proposed to girlfriend Nicole Ryan at last year’s Finke Desert Race. Now, this Saturday will be the biggest day of his life.
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Every mum and dad would want a son like Jordi Little. Every woman would want a husband like Jordi Little. And every bloke wants a best mate like Jordi Little.
Hardworking and honest as the day is long, Jordi has that perfect balance of humility and chutzpah.
And this Saturday, the 10th of the 10th 2020, is the biggest day of his life.
Jordi will marry the love of his life, and high school sweetheart, Nicole Ryan.
They say “birds of a feather flock together”, and there is no truer example than these two beautiful souls who have come together as one.
Jordi’s epic proposal to his beloved Nikki became a global viral sensation.
Millions of people all over the world watched on mainstream and social media as Jordi got down on one knee after last year’s Finke Desert Race.
It was a Hollywood scene: Jordi striding in in his race suit, dirt strewn across his face, Nikki dressed to the nines in her role as a Finke Ambassador (Grid Girl), with family, friends and fans clamouring around, as Jordi bends down on one knee, and the two become one.
“It was priceless! One of those moments you have to savour – hopefully it’ll be something I only have to do once!” Jordi says with a laugh.
“I wasn’t nervous. I always thought it would be a nerve-racking moment. But after everything that happened that weekend, making it back to town, I was just excited.
“Nikki is my ground zero. She’s my normality. I don’t know what I’d do without her. It just feels right.
“As long as I’ve got Nikki, I can make home anywhere.”
The lead-up to that famous proposal began when Jordi decided to design his own ring with an elite jeweller in Germany.
“I designed it and I’d drawn a sketch, and I measured one of her rings for size. And Nikki saw it, and was nearly on to me! But I said it was just for a car part!”, he said.
Jordi was the navigator for his great mate Zach ‘Gunna’ Gunstone.
That ring was also lucky to survive their trip down to Finke.
At the last minute, Jordi gave the ring to his friend Lincoln Sheedy, instead of leaving it in the glove box of their Canam.
Gunna and Jordi were competing in the Side-by-Side Class 6, in car 689.
“We decided on 689, because at least if we rolled it, the number would still read the same- and that’s exactly what happened!”, he said.
In another viral moment, Gunna and Jordi were caught on film in an epic moment that included airborne travel, a rollover, a landing and an incredible quick recovery getaway.
“(My) famous last words to Zach were, ‘We better slow down for this dune.’ We didn’t quite slow down enough!,” Jordi said.
“As soon as we left the ground, I knew we were rolling. It all felt pretty slow actually.
“I had faith in the cage that Simon Herrmann from SPH made.
“We didn’t even stop moving, we bounced over and landed on two wheels. I said, ‘if something’s broken, it’s broken, just up it!’
“All of our phones and wallets were in the glove box and they were all gone! Lucky Lincoln Sheedy had that ring after all!
“But this just shows the type of people in the racing community. People picked up our stuff off the track. We got everything back – not a dollar was missing from our wallets!
“The footage was shown at presentation of our rollover. We were treated like rock stars!”
Motorsport is in the blood for Jordi.
His dad Paul, a legendary Alice figure known as ‘Poluccii’, raced motor bikes and speedway in his youth.
“When I was two and a half, dad got me my first motor bike. I learnt the basics in that,” he said.
“At six, he got me a go-kart, and that started a love of four wheels.”
For more than a decade, Jordi was a star fixture on the speedway and dirt-kart scene in the NT.
One highlight came in 2010, when Jordi raced away from Alice for the first time at the Adelaide Classic and finished on the elite competition’s podium, in third.
“I love racing. Fifty per cent of that love is about spending time with family and friends, the memories, the like-minded people you meet,” he said.
“Nine out of every 10 people you meet in that community are generous, kind-hearted people!
“You are even close mates with your biggest competitors.
“Someone like Joe Orr, we’d always help each other out if we needed something, he’d be the first one to help, even though we are competing against each other.
“That’s because the fun and love of it is what matters at the end of the day.”
Family has always been the guiding light for Jordi.
“Every little kid thinks their parents are super heroes!,” he said.
“I look up to my parents. Even now that I look down on dad, I still look up to him!
“Everyone thinks they have the best dad in the world – I think mine is a fair candidate!
“He was always putting us first, and always sacrificing for us.”
Jordi’s Mum Robyn is a great lady of Alice Springs.
“Mum has always supported us in anything that has made us happy,” he said.
“She’s a worry wart, but despite that, if it’s made us happy, she’s encouraged us to grab the bull by the horns and do it!”
Jordi is six years older than his younger sister Meg.
“We were really close as kids, and now that we are both adults, we’ve become close again,” he said.
“She’s a clown, and I love her! Her and mum and are two peas in a pod.
“She has a dark sense of humour. Actually, the whole family has a dark sense of humour!”
Jordi says from day one he was warmly welcomed into Nikki’s family, including her mum Jen, dad Kel and siblings Shana, Dean and Carlie.
Earlier this year, Jordi was sitting on a plane on the tarmac out at the rock. He was with brother-in-law-to-be Michael Nelson, and they were about to fly to Brisbane for the CMC Country Music Festival.
Jordi received a photo message from Nikki. It was of a positive pregnancy test.
The little one is due November 21. Three days before Jordi’s 25th birthday.
“This is the biggest and best adventure I’ve been on yet. I’ve never been so sure, or felt so ready about anything,” he said.
“Nikki has been an absolute champion with her pregnancy!”
Jordi left school and was offered two apprenticeships – one as an aircraft mechanic, and another as a refrigeration mechanic.
He took the latter with Haden Engineering, and now is fully qualified and working with Coldzap.
He is now looking set to start an electrical apprenticeship as well.
“Dad was a fitter and turner by trade, and watching him work with machines, I always wanted to be a boiler maker or a fitter and turner. I might do a fabrication and welding course,” he said.
“If I did an apprenticeship in everything I was interested in, I’d still be an apprentice by the time I’m 50!
“I like chasing goals, I like having something to work towards!”
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With his wedding on Saturday, and baby due in a little over a month, Jordi’s got plenty to chase!
“I first asked Nicole out on the 10/3/2013.
“We got engaged on 10/6/2019.
“Nicole’s birthday is 10/9/1997.
“10 is Nikki’s favourite number!”
On this Saturday, 10/10/2020, their two hearts will become one, and the road ahead looks lined with love, and lit by heaven’s good grace.
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