BE ON THE EDGE! The Final Years of Jordan Grand Prix (2000-2004)

I was a member of the Jordan fan club, and got to meet Eddie, Jean Alesi, Takuma Sato and Justin Wilson, god bless his soul, at a Silverstone test day. We had pit lane access at lunch time and a Jordan factory tour during the day too, as well as lunch with the team in the hospitality suites above the old pit garages. Was bloody brilliant! Jordan really were the F1 team who made access to F1's backstage accessible to the"normal" F1 fan. Thanks Aidan for another great video!

As a side note I learnt from EJ's and DC's podcast, when Eddie signed the engine deal with Ford, Gerhard Berger pulled an amazing prank on him. Eddie and Berger were going to be flying home together with Ron Dennis, and so Berger, who was working for BMW and having just seen the Jordan-Ford deal, made some fake documents showing that BMW were going to be supplying engines to Minardi. Berger then put these documents in his briefcase and during the flight, told Ron to encourage Eddie to look in the briefcase when Berger went away. Berger then left to go to the cockpit, and sure enough, Ron tells Eddie to snoop, and so Eddie finds the documents and is mortified that his biggest rivals now have a deal with arguably the best engine in F1 at the time. When Berger comes back, Eddie starts asking about any potential BMW deals etc., while trying to not give away the fact that he had been snooping. Berger plays along and tells Eddie that actually, we are planing to supply engines to a smaller team. At this point, Eddie is practically begging Berger to consider giving the BMW engines to Jordan, even though, as Berger points out, he had just been om TV hyping up their new partnership with Ford. Berger then plays along even further and tells Eddie to ready a presentation or something of the sort in a very short period of time and gives him a bunch of people to call, including Bernie Ecclestone. Eddie then works tirelessly on this matter for quite some time, before realizing that Berger had played him and resulting in a very angry phone call to Berger. Berger tells the story way better, go check out the Formula for Success podcast if you haven't

Jordan always felt like everyone's second team. We all had our favourites, but always kept an eye on the bright yellow party boys.

The 1999 Jordan is one of the most beautiful looking F1 cars of all time.

Funny thing, 2003 points system was brought to help some backmarker teams, like Jordan, however, with the old system, that win, then the only points finish, would've leapped them above Toyota, Jag, Sauber and BAR to 5th

I've got a Jordan diecast with the Buzzin Hornets livery. I got it at a USGP at Indy.

They were the main reason Irish tv started showing full season races live in 1995 and why I used to watch religiously in the late 90s. Being Irish, I was a big fan. When Heinz Harald won in Magny Cours Michael Douglas presented one of the trophies and there was Eddie singing along to Amhrán na bhFiann as the winning constructor's anthem.

Jordan having God save the Queen played when they got their 1-2 at Spa was crushing. I'm Irish and there was precious little else to celebrate in motor-racing so to have that result and the wrong anthem was played very nearly ruined the achievement.

They never painted Frentzen and Hedges on the nose as far as I know so the universe cursed them with uncompetitiveness as penance for missing such an open goal

I loved the 199 Jordan, and still have a model of it somewhere. I remember going to Donington in 2000 where EJ was having his 10th anniversary celebration. A lot of the sponsors were there and even then, there were a few long faces. Reading between the lines, B&H weren't impressed with how bad the 2000 car was compared to 1999.

The reason the fighting fund was set up was due to a clause in the Concorde Agreement stating that if the field dropped below 20 cars, then the top four teams would have to run a third car to make up the numbers.

Always the ultimate underdog, Jordan were my favourite team in the 90s and early 00s.

I was really hoping Frentzen would win the 99 championship.

From an improbable high to a crushing low. It was a sad decline and a sad exit that brought mixed emotions. Eddie was as devious and underhanded as Mr. E at times, and could be irritating as all hell, but nostalgia heals all wounds. This was one of my OG's - one of the teams from when I began with F1, of which only Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Sau-Kic-Aud remain. The nostalgia personally extends to tenuous childhood links, Eddie hails from Bray, Co. Wicklow. The Best Seaside Town... In The World. Childhood holiday heaven. Jordan's yellow was unforgettable - an great example of identity branding, initially just another ciggie packet, but with the hornets, the snakes and the sharks, it broke away from Benson and Hedges and became Jordan Yellow. And of course, there's the tricolour tinted glasses - this was Ireland's Team. That of course meant my grandad followed them. Any success, from one point to a victory were celebrated in the press in the Emerald Isle. I still remember fondly the roller-coaster of 1999, of Frentzen and Ireland's Greatest Year, of a news feature on pubs being packed to cheer on Irvine and Jordan. When Australia 2000 came around, the front page of the main TV listings mag, the RTE Guide, had on the front cover "F1 2000 Season Preview - Is This Eddie's Year?" Only if you mean his year for getting the wind kicked out of him. When Midland came in, I remember Ted Kravitz made a running gag about them being Irish-Russian, and back when Ted's Notebook was an ITV website column rather than a show - remember that? - he referred to them exclusively in those terms; Jordanin, Jordanski, Jordanov, etc. I thought it amusing, at least. Eddie did a lot for the country and for the sport. Emotionally this team will always be his, no matter how long Lawrence Stroll's name remains on the door. Suil Eile.

Really loved the Jordan and BAR take on tobbacco branding Jordan's Be on edge And BAR's Look Alike are so good Of course Bitten Heroes and the others puns where more elaborate but be on edge is so simple and so good really deserve appreciation

I met Eddie at a Mark Sutton photo exhibition in Abu dhabi in 2015 when I was a race coach at Yas Marina. We spoke about racing for a bit but he lit up when i mentioned my other career as an irish dancer. He's personal friends with Michael Flatley and on occasion Flatley would bring some of his main dancers to Monaco to party on Eddies yacht with him. He was playing the spoons in a sleeveless tank top when the assembled were all suited and booted. Eccentric, outspoken but a genuine character, and Jordan were my go-to team when i followed Hill and Frenzten in the late 90s. Mega memories.

This has no doubt been said, and when reading it, put your best anorak voice on…. At 11:15 during the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, it was actually Webber who went off before Alonso… Alonso came round onto the start finish straight, collected one of Webbers stricken wheels with his front right, and went careering off to the left! Then there was a red flag, 2 heavy shunts. Either way, another cracking video, keep up the good work Aidan! Love the content 😁

F1 rejects, i miss that website. The guys behind it put in a lot of great work.

I believe Eddie said on his podcast. He still get a cheque for DHL for the logo update for DHL

I came of age during the Schumacher-Hakkinen era and when I saw Jordan's cars for the first time with the Buzzin Hornet logo nosecone, they became my favorite team, to the point that I ordered merch from a now defunct mail-order company in the US. However, what I didn't take into account before wearing it in high school was the Benson & Hedges logo. Needless to say, I avoided serious trouble, but I couldn't wear the jacket or jersey to school after that. Keep in mind this was in Texas in 1998, so it also stuck out like a sore thumb because F1 wasn't visible at the time.