The Life of Eddie Jordan

 

By Evan Dalton for Motorsport.ie

On the morning of March 20th, silence fell on the motorsport world as the news emerged of the passing of former teamboss of ‘Jordan Grand Prix’ and F1 personality Eddie Jordan. Jordan had been suffering from prostate and bowel cancer, and passed peacefully surrounded by his family in Cape Town, South Africa. The memories of all who worked, spent time with, and were fans of Jordan’s started to be shared across social media. The story of Jordan is admired across the world of racing. 

Jordan was born in Dublin in 1949, and grew up in both Dartry and Bray, County Wicklow. His father Patrick was the son of a senior nun, and worked as an accountant for the ESB. 

Jordan’s initial plan for life was to become a priest, which was no doubt influenced by his time studying at the Synge Street Christian Brothers School. He ended up however taking a six week accountancy course, and found a home at the Bank Of Ireland. During a bank strike in 1970, Jordan moved to the island of Jersey and his love for motorsport was found go-karting in St Brelade's Bay.

Upon return to Ireland, Jordan bought a kart and entered the 1971 Irish Karting Championship, which he won on his first attempt. Jordan raced up the ranks, eventually landing both a Formula Two test with Mclaren, and an entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans with BMW in 1981, where he finished in 10th. 

Using his expertise from his time in the banking industry, Jordan managed to find funding to start his own team. ‘Eddie Jordan Racing’ was formed in 1981, with their first big championship entry coming in 1982, when Jordan entered the team into British Formula 3. 

Jordan signed a young british driver by the name of Martin Brundle for 1983, where he finished second in the championship behind Brazilian hotshot Ayrton Senna. Jordan eventually won the championship with Johnny Herbert in 1987. 

Infamously, Jordan funded these years by ‘block booking’ the Silverstone circuit for testing. British Formula 3 teams were only allowed to test on certain days, and Jordan booked all these dates up before anyone else got the chance, and forced his rivals to pay him for these test dates. It was these savvy tactics that eventually got him to Formula 1 in 1991. 

Life in Formula 1 did not start easy for Jordan and ‘7UP Jordan-Ford,’as one of his drivers, the Belgian Bertrand Gachot had a bust up with a taxi driver in London, and ended up going to prison after the Hungarian Grand Prix. Jordan needed to find a second driver as the paddock headed to Spa Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix. 

Jordan opted to pay the Mercedes Benz sports car team $150,000 to allow him to hire their young German prodigy, Michael Schumacher. Schumacher exceeded all expectations, and qualified in seventh on debut, matching the team's best result so far. Schumacher’s race, and his Jordan Grand Prix career, did not even last a lap, as he suffered a clutch failure. This reportedly was due to Jordan buying a second-hand clutch off Frank Williams. Schumacher’s impressive qualifying performance was enough however for Flavio Briatore and Benetton to sign Schumacher for the next race. 

Jordan Grand Prix’s day came in 1998, as Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher, brother of Michael, finished ‘1-2’ at the famous Belgian Grand Prix of that year. Jordan danced around the pitlane while heading up to the podium, where the officials forgot to play ‘Amhran na Bhfiann’ for the winning constructor, but Jordan didn’t care. The almost priest had just won a Grand Prix. 

Jordan won another three races, bringing his tally to four before the team was bought by the Midlands Group in 2005, and renamed to Midland F1 in 2006. The team exchanged hands multiple times since then but is now run as Aston Martin. Heinz-Harold Frentzen achieved the team's best championship result in 1999, with third. Frentzen would have had a genuine shot for the championship had he not suffered an engine failure at the European Grand Prix. 

Jordan then entered the media, and worked for the BBC and Channel 4’s Formula 1 coverage from 2009 to 2024. Jordan appeared on TV screens across the globe and was loved for his passion and controversial takes. Channel 4 hired him as their lead analyst in 2016, where his mini documentaries became a key part of their race weekend coverage. Jordan launched his own podcast with David Coulthard in 2023, titled ‘Formula For Success’ or ‘FFS’ [and yes the joke was intended]. He hosted it all the way up until the most recent episodes. 

Jordan was a savvy businessman, but was also admired for his flamboyant and his party animal nature. Even those, like myself, who never got the chance to watch Jordan Grand Prix race in Formula 1, idolised him for what he did for the sport in Ireland. 

He was a trailblazer for Ireland and a success story of David versus Goliath. Jordan wanted to take on the big teams, and he did it. He will be missed by all across the motorsport world. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.