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Having competed in no less than 250 Formula 1 Grand Prix in fourteen seasons, with four victories and nineteen podium finishes with drivers such as Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine and Damon Hill, Eddie Jordan’s team made its mark on the history of motor racing.

The larger-than-life Irishman began his career as a team manager in 1980 with Eddie Jordan Racing, which later became Jordan Grand Prix. The Dublin-born driver started out in the banking business before discovering a talent for go-karting. He began competing shortly after. In 1971, he entered the Irish Kart Championship and won it.

Throughout the seventies, Jordan invested in his driving career and took part in the British Formula Ford Championship in 1974, and then Formula 3 in 1975. After a serious accident at Mallory Park in 1976, Jordan went on to compete in the Atlantic Championship the following year and won three races. With just one Formula 2 race and a few tests for McLaren to his name, he set his career aside to set up his own team in the early eighties.

However, although a team manager, he still felt the desire to drive. He took part in three major endurance races between 1981 and 1982, including, a proud moment, the Le Mans 24 Hours 1981. At his first 6 hours of Silverstone, the third leg of the World Sportscar Championship in 1981, he came third overall and top of the Sport +2L category with Siegfried Brun in a Porsche 908/3.

A month later, he made his debut at Le Mans, with David Hobbs and Steve O’Rourke at the wheel of the impressive Group 5 BMW M1 entered by the EMKA team (see http://www.24h-lemans.com/fr/actualites/apercuenligne_2_1_1707_18511.html). Having started in 38th position, the n°53 encountered a cruel fuel injection problem with just two hours to go which prevented the team from savouring a finish in the classic race.

Jordan ran his third and last endurance race on 17 October 1982 at the BOAC 1000 at Brands Hatch. The Irishman drove a Porsche 935 K3 for Charles Ivey Racing with Glenn Loxton and Dudley Wood. The three men finished 16th. The winners that day were Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell in a Porsche 956.

Later, Jordan’s team had several successes in Formula 3 and Formula 3000, then Formula 1 with the United States Grand Prix in 1991.

Pierre-Yves Riom / ACO Translation by Emma Paulay

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), 24 HOURS CIRCUIT, LE MANS 24 HOURS, SATURDAY 19 & SUNDAY 20 JUNE 1965. Eddie Jordan at the wheel of the EMKA team’s BMW M1.