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Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- Irish Times
‘We all remember his amazing energy': Eddie Jordan remembered in two events ahead of Monaco Grand Prix
Eddie Jordan was mourned and celebrated in equal measure on the opening day of the Monaco Grand Prix meeting in Monte Carlo on Thursday. His unique position as driver, team owner, businessman and entertainer – but also resident of the principality – was remembered at a meeting of friends and family hosted by Prince Albert at the magnificent Monaco Yacht Club. Later, a lunch hosted by the British Racing Drivers' Club at the seaside Fairmont Hotel heard from Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali and F1 team principals. Both events saw a mixture of tears and laughter worthy of a traditional Irish wake. Keith O'Loughlin, business partner of the late Eddie Jordan, speaks to actor Liam Cunningham at the Monaco Yacht Club event in Jordan's honour. Jordan's relationship with Monaco goes back to the early 1980s when he started entering his Eddie Jordan Racing (EJR) Formula Three cars in the Grand Prix support races. The opportunist in him recognised that all sorts of drivers could easily get sponsorship for the prestigious event and he could earn a tidy profit. He rented cars from British-based teams until EJR consisted of no less than five cars. READ MORE In the late 1980s, he used his position as a successful F3 entrant to get to know the movers and shakers in the F1 world. In 1991, he arrived with his own F1 team called Jordan Grand Prix. The Jordan-Ford 191 was driven by the closely matched pairing of Andrea de Cesaris and Bertrand Gachot. That year, because the team had to pre-qualify for their one and only time, they were banished to the second-tier paddock area in the repurposed multistorey car park adjacent to the main paddock. Coincidentally, this year, the shamrock-bearing Formula Two Series leader Alex Dunne and all the other F2 teams will use this exact location. Jordan lived in Monaco from 1996. Reflecting on the Irishman's life, Prince Albert said: 'Eddie contributed greatly to the Monaco Grand Prix over many years but was also an important link in the relationship between Ireland and Monaco. We all remember his amazing energy and positivity and ability to get those around him to give their best.' The prince encouraged guests to support the Eddie Jordan Foundation, which aims to help young people reach their full potential. It is chaired initially by Jordan's long-term friend and business partner, Keith O'Loughlin. [ Eddie Jordan obituary: Motor racing entrepreneur and gifted dealmaker Opens in new window ] [ Max Verstappen wins Emilia-Romagna GP to close gap on title rivals Opens in new window ] MC Paul Adamson noted how the late F1 team owner changed many people's lives for the better – including his own, when Jordan asked him to skipper his yacht on the 2014 Oyster World Rally. Others present included former Tour de France winner Stephen Roche and actor Liam Cunningham. The British Racing Drivers' Club event was a more relaxed affair, with several former drivers sharing their stories, including Damon Hill, Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard. Aston Martin technical director Adrian Newey took time out from his work duties to spend time with the Jordan family, including Eddie's wife Marie and two of their children, Zoe and Kyle. A tribute film, narrated by Bono, was warmly received.
The Guardian
21-03-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
Eddie Jordan obituary
Viewers of Netflix's Drive to Survive have become accustomed to the modern Formula One world of enormous hi-tech teams supported by armies of corporate sponsors and marketing, media and PR specialists. Eddie Jordan, who has died aged 76 of prostate cancer, represented a previous era of buccaneering individualists who made their own luck and built their teams in their own image. 'We were johnny-come-latelies, noisy, brash, having a good time, giving the establishment two fingers,' Jordan told MotorSport magazine. 'So we got lots of attention, lots of value for our sponsors, and a huge fanbase.' Jordan Grand Prix draped Page 3 models over their cars and were the rock'n'rollers in the F1 paddock, not least because Jordan could frequently be seen flailing away behind his drumkit in his band Eddie's Pitstop Boogie Boys (who often played at Silverstone after the British Grand Prix) or subsequently Eddie & the Robbers. He was good friends with rock stars including George Harrison, Genesis's Mike Rutherford, Chris Rea and John Lydon, and when Led Zeppelin staged their one-off reunion at London's O2 Arena in 2007, Eddie was there. But he was also a brilliant entrepreneur and deal-maker. He gave Michael Schumacher his first Formula One drive, and his efforts also ensured that Jordan came fifth in the World Championship in their debut year of 1991, a remarkable achievement for a fledgling independent team. During his team's lifespan from 1991 to 2005, he employed numerous top drivers including Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello, the 1996 world champion Damon Hill, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jean Alesi. In 1998, Hill brought the team their first win at the Belgian Grand Prix, and Frentzen added two more the following year, helping Jordan to reach third place in the World Championship, their best performance. In 2003 Giancarlo Fisichella won the team's final victory at Interlagos in Brazil. Jordan was a close friend of F1's eminence grise Bernie Ecclestone, and shared something of his deal-making instinct. In 1995 he made a small fortune by selling Irvine's contract to Ferrari. He explained: 'Irvine would come to me for free and I'd give him a three-year contract, and build him up, and build him up, and then sell him to Ferrari. He'd get 13 or 14 million and Ferrari would pay me five.' A major sponsorship deal with Benson & Hedges for the 1996 season prompted Jordan's cars to turn yellow. In 1998, Jordan sold half his shares to the private equity firm Warburg Pincus, then bought them back at a substantial profit. On Ecclestone's recommendation, he sold Jordan Grand Prix to the billionaire Alex Schnaider for a reported $60m, and in 2006 the team became Midland F1 (and would subsequently become Spyker and Force India before its latest iteration as Aston Martin). He pulled off another entrepreneurial coup in 2024, when acting as manager for Adrian Newey, arguably the greatest car designer in F1 history. He negotiated Newey's transfer from Red Bull to Aston Martin, based at Jordan's original Silverstone site, for a rumoured salary of £30m. After selling his team, he had a media career as an F1 pundit, for BBC Sport's Grand Prix programme from 2009, then for Channel 4's F1 coverage from 2016. He presented Top Gear in 2016-18, and in 2023 he and David Coulthard launched their podcast, Formula for Success. Eddie was born in Dublin, the son of Paddy and Eileen Jordan. His father was an accountant for the Electricity Supply Board, and his mother a housewife. He also had an elder sister, Helen. 'My mother was the boss and head of the family, and I think I took a lot from her,' Eddie told the Sunday Telegraph. 'We had that strong mother-and-youngest-son bond. I was driven.' He attended Synge Street Christian Brothers school, displaying early entrepreneurial flair by dealing conkers, marbles and school textbooks, and at one point considered becoming a priest (his father's twin sister was a senior nun with the Irish Sisters of Charity). He briefly considered dentistry but then got a job in the Bank of Ireland. In 1970, a banking strike prompted him to move to Jersey to earn money, where he not only trained in accountancy but tried go-karting, and became infatuated with it. Back in Ireland, he pursued his karting hobby and was successful enough to win the Irish Kart Championship in 1971. He then moved up to Formula Ford (partly sponsored by a Dublin carpet shop), although he suffered a temporary setback when he broke both legs in a crash at the Mallory Park circuit in Leicestershire in 1975. He bounced back in Formula Atlantic, and won the Irish Formula Atlantic title in 1978. He then moved to England and, now married to Marie McCarthy (a former basketball player for Ireland), tried his luck in Formula Three, but with little success. He decided to switch from driver to team owner, and formed Eddie Jordan Racing (EJR) in 1979. The team enjoyed a standout season in F3 in 1983, when their driver Martin Brundle came a close second to the gifted Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna. 'We so nearly won the championship because we psyched Senna, and he started to make mistakes,' Jordan said. In 1987 Johnny Herbert won the British F3 title with EJR, then in 1989 EJR's new signing, the French driver Alesi, won the F3000 title. Herbert had now entered F1 with the Benetton team, and Alesi followed suit with Tyrrell (assisted by Jordan's sponsorship contacts with the Camel cigarette brand). This inspired Jordan to make the leap to F1 himself. He assembled a team including the designer Gary Anderson, and attracted sponsorship from Marlboro, 7UP and the Irish government. He signed up the drivers Andrea de Cesaris and Bertrand Gachot, who racked up some solid results before Gachot was involved in a bizarre road-rage incident at Hyde Park Corner in London in which he sprayed a taxi driver with CS gas. This earned Gachot a prison sentence, and as replacement Jordan signed Schumacher for his F1 debut. Schumacher only drove once for Jordan, at Spa in Belgium, but his performance was so sensational that he was scooped up by the Benetton team, even though Jordan apparently had a watertight contract with him. The episode highlighted the machiavellian politics lurking behind the glamorous facade of F1. Jordan had numerous interests outside motor racing, building up a substantial property portfolio as well as being a shareholder in Celtic FC and co-owner of the London Irish Rugby Club. He had investments in gaming and entertainment businesses, and launched his own V-10 vodka and the energy drink EJ-10. He also owned several luxury yachts. He was a patron of the child cancer charity CLIC Sargent and the youth charity the Amber Foundation. In 2012 he was appointed an honorary OBE for his services to charity and motor racing. His autobiography, An Independent Man, was published in 2007. On Jordan's death, Ecclestone commented: 'Eddie was a special guy. Tell me which team principal today is like him. You can't give me one because there isn't one. They don't make them like that now. We will never replace him in Formula One.' He is survived by Marie and their children, Zoe, Miki, Zak and Kyle. Edmund Patrick Jordan, motor racing entrepreneur, driver, businessman and broadcaster, born 30 March 1948; died 20 March 2025
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Formula 1 Team Owner and Broadcaster Eddie Jordan Has Died
Eddie Jordan, a race-winning Formula 1 team owner, manager, and broadcaster, has died, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali announced Thursday on X. He was 76. Jordan began his racing career as a driver, working his way up from the Irish karting scene to Formula 2 before making a brief stop at the 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans in a BMW M1. After his career as a driver stalled out, Jordan founded his first racing team in 1979. His teams competed in British Formula 3 and Formula 3000, bringing up future F1 drivers Martin Brundle, Jean Alesi, and Johnny Herbert. Formula 1 followed, in 1991. His Jordan Grand Prix team gave a Mercedes sports car driver named Michael Schumacher his first F1 ride; that ended with a DNF on lap one, but Schumacher had been so impressive in practice and qualifying that he had signed with eventual champions Benetton one race later. Jordan Grand Prix scored points in every season it entered and won four times. The first win came with Damon Hill in 1998. A year later, Heinz-Harald Frentzen won twice and brought the team to a high of third in the constructor's championship. The team's final win came with Giancarlo Fisichella under unusual circumstances in 2003: controversy over official F1 timing after a race-ending red flag meant that the race was decided in court later in the week. It was one of just three points-paying finishes for the Jordan Grand Prix team that year. The team was eventually sold to Midland, who later sold it to Spyker. Force India owned the team for most of the intervening years before it became Racing Point, then finally, Aston Martin F1. After selling the team, Jordan worked as a broadcaster in England; he also served as Adrian Newey's manager, and last year he helped the legendary designer negotiate a deal with the Aston Martin team that traces its roots back to his own Jordan Grand Prix. Jordan had announced a prostate cancer diagnosis in December of last year. He died in South Africa on Thursday. He is survived by his wife and four children. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Eccentric F1 Team Boss Who Gave Michael Schumacher His Debut Dies Aged 76
Ex-Formula 1 team boss and the brains behind Michael Schumacher's 1991 F1 debut in Belgium, Eddie Jordan, has died aged 76. The team boss turned TV presenter revealed last year that he had been diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer, which had spread to his spine and pelvis. Jordan's family confirmed that the F1 star died on March 20 in Cape Town, South Africa, reports the Guardian. The Irishman's family said he "passed away peacefully with family by his side," in a statement shared with the site: "EJ brought an abundance of charisma, energy and Irish charm everywhere he went. We all have a huge hole missing without his presence. He will be missed by so many people, but he leaves us with tonnes of great memories to keep us smiling through our sorrow." Read more: Joey Logano Penalized By NASCAR For Wearing A Webbed Glove To Gain Aero Advantage Jordan didn't start his career in motorsport with the aim of becoming a TV pundit one day. Instead, he started racing karts in Ireland, and went on to win the Irish championship in 1971 -- his first entry into the series, reports the BBC. After tasting the winners champagne, Jordan then worked through the ranks racing in Formula Ford in 1974 and Formula 3 a year later. After breaking his leg during a crash, the Irishman hung up his racing gloves for a few years, before making a comeback in Formula Atlantic and winning three races in 1977. Greater on-track success wasn't Jordan's to chase, however, and he switched to team management, setting up his own racing outfit for the F3 and Formula 3000 championships. Over the years, he fielded drivers like Johnny Herbert and Jean Alesi in the junior categories. Herbert and Alesi weren't the last big names to drive in Jordan's cars, and with the launch of Jordan Grand Prix in 1991 the Irishman made the step up to Formula 1. Over the course of 15 seasons, the team fielded an impressive roster of talent, as F1 explained: Jordan famously gave Michael Schumacher his F1 debut during that '91 campaign, with many other big-name drivers – including the likes of Rubens Barrichello, Martin Brundle, Damon Hill and Jean Alesi – racing for the squad over the years. The team picked up its first podium with Barrichello at the wheel in 1994 and scored its first victory at the 1998 Belgium Grand Prix. At its peak, Jordan placed third in the 1999 Formula 1 season with drivers Damon Hill and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Jordan ultimately sold his stake in the F1 team in 2005 after a decline in performance and sponsorship. It went through several name changes in the years since and formed the basis for the Aston Martin team that's on the grid today. Following his departure from the sport, Jordan built a name for himself as an eccentric TV presenter. He regularly appeared on Formula 1 race weekend coverage as a pundit and even having a stint on the revived BBC show "Top Gear" after the departure of Jeremy Clarkson and co. Jordan also served as manager for famed F1 designer Adrian Newey and was said to be instrumental in negotiating the deal that saw Newey leave Red Bull and join Aston Martin. Maybe that was one last effort to secure the legacy of the team he started in Formula 1? Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
NBC News
20-03-2025
- Automotive
- NBC News
Eddie Jordan, ex-F1 team owner and media personality, dies at 76
SHANGHAI — Ex-Formula 1 team owner and media personality Eddie Jordan has died, according to a statement by his family. He was 76. Often known simply as 'EJ,' he ran his own Jordan team in the 1990s and 2000s in F1. His humor, strong opinions and often extravagant dress sense made Jordan a popular pundit on TV after selling the team in 2005. Jordan was undergoing treatment for what he had called 'quite aggressive' cancer of the bladder and prostate which spread to his spine and pelvis. The family statement, published by rugby club London Irish, where Jordan was a patron, said he 'passed away peacefully with family by his side in Cape Town' early Thursday. 'EJ brought an abundance of charisma, energy and Irish charm everywhere he went. We all have a huge hole missing without his presence. He will be missed by so many people, but he leaves us with tonnes of great memories to keep us smiling through our sorrow.' F1 president and chief executive Stefano Domenicali, who was a senior Ferrari employee when Jordan owned his team, said Jordan was 'a protagonist of an era of F1 and he will be deeply missed.' 'With his inexhaustible energy he always knew how to make people smile, remaining genuine and brilliant at all times.' Irish businessman Jordan operated his own racing team in lower-level series before moving up to F1 in 1991, giving future seven-time champion Michael Schumacher his first race that year. Christian Horner, then a young driver dreaming of F1 and now Red Bull team principal, recalled the advice he got from Jordan in 1991: 'Get a good sponsor … welcome to the Piranha Club!' F1 has 'lost a legend,' Horner said. Jordan gave Schumacher his break in F1 because his regular driver Bertrand Gachot was sentenced to prison for assaulting a London taxi driver. The then-22-year-old Schumacher was with the team for only a single race before Benetton signed him in controversial circumstances. 'I am deeply saddened by the loss of Eddie Jordan. Eddie was a great individual, who for decades always brought a smile to the entire F1 paddock,' said Flavio Briatore, who then ran Benetton and became a close friend of Jordan, and is now executive adviser at Alpine. 'I have fond memories of the time spent on and off the track with Eddie, and his presence across the entire F1 world will be greatly missed.' Other Jordan drivers over the years included Damon Hill, who won the 1996 championship with Williams and gave Jordan its first win in torrential rain in 1998, future Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was third in the championship for Jordan in 1999. Jordan Grand Prix won four races before Jordan sold the team in 2005. Following more sales and name changes since then, the team competes as Aston Martin. 'Eddie Jordan was one of the all-time motorsport greats. He was a one-off, a wonderful human being, and a charismatic leader who founded this team and took it to F1 in 1991,' Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell said in a statement. 'His vision laid the foundations for us and he leaves a lasting legacy for the entire motorsport community.' Jordan also acted as the manager for car design great Adrian Newey when he left Red Bull for Aston Martin last year. When he revealed his cancer diagnosis last year, Jordan used it as an opportunity to urge listeners of his podcast to follow up on any health concerns. 'This is a little message to everybody listening to this, don't waste or put it off,' he said. 'Go and get tested, because in life you have got chances. Go and do it. Don't be stupid. Don't be shy. Look after your body, guys.'
