Eddie Jordan - Blog Posts

Remembering Eddie Jordan

I started watching Formula 1 properly around 1998, which meant that my introduction to the Jordan Grand Prix team, which made its top-class debut in 1991, was with the awesome yellow and black "hornet" liveries. The squad mounted an unlikely title challenge with Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 1999, and, while I was more of a Häkkinen fan at the time, if Frentzen had done it, I'd've been chuffed too.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember seeing any of these "hornet" cars in person. But I have seen a couple of Jordan's cars up close: a Honda-powered EJ12 at the Honda Collection Hall at Motegi (1st picture), and the second, at the private collection of the Manoir de l'Automobile in Brittany. It is painted in the team's 1997 "snake" livery, but it's not a 1997 car (the airbox out of shot is wrong). It has a high nose, which Jordan started using in 1996, so it could be a repainted demo car recycling the 1996 type, but then the sidepods are wrong! I think it's a 1995 car, with a 1996 nose, in the 1997 colours. What a mess!

Ultimately, Jordan was a midfield team that allowed good drivers to beat the front runners from time to time, and that, for one year, looked like it could morph into a top squad itself. Alas, that didn't transpire, but I will remember the yellow cars very fondly.

Cheers, Eddie!