He’s too modest to say that Ireland has switched onto Formula One because of his achievements. Eddie Jordan is, after all, our ambassador in the motor racing world, and that means he knows when to be a diplomat. In fact, he’s more likely to give the credit for the teams success to two categories of risk-takers – his sponsors and his drivers. Although his ability to hustle for finance has been a key element in his success, Jordan’s eye for talent has been just as important. Along the way he has introduced Jean Alesi., Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello to F1 fans.

Now that he is sitting pretty on the UK Rich List, it’s hard for the public to appreciate just how difficult the task of building a world-class grand prix team was. One person who climbed every step of the way with Eddie was his wife Marie, a former pro on the Irish basketball team.
“I remember when Marie was taking in lodgers five years ago just to make ends meet,” says a longtime friend of the family. “She’s just a fantastic woman.”

The Jordan’s perseverance paid off. Last November Eddie and Marie, the only shareholders in Jordan Grand Prix, sold about 45 per cent of the company to US investment company Warburg Pincus for about £40 million.

Eddie isn’t willing to brag about – or even quantify – how much he is worth.
“Why do Irish people always ask that? No-one else asks that,” he says, before conceding that “it’s no secret that we got £68million for a minority stake in Jordan."
Was it a nice day for him?
“Was it a nice day for me? I think he got a steal, he robbed me,” he says, smiling at Dominick Shorthouse, MD of Warburg Pincus.

“Money is important,” he admits as we wander around the Nurburgring before this year’s Luxembourg Grand Prix.
“It allows things to happen, I pumped quite a bit of that money into the brand. We sold because we wanted to consolidate and pushing the Jordan brand should be a thing of great success. You’ll be able to buy all sorts of things – initially it will be mainly sunglasses and clothes to see how the brand goes. We have taken on an Irish guy, Bill Sweeney, who was marketing sales director for Reebok in the States. He want’s to come back to Europe so he’s going to run the Jordan programme.
We’re not going to be a Hugo Boss, but there is no reason we couldn’t be another Tommy Hilfiger. Branding like that has a short life-span, but you can get five years out of it."

The deal with Warburg Pincus seems to be a perfect partnership.
“Our interests and Eddie’s interests go hand in hand,” Dominick explains as we slowly make our way around the track. Jordan’s famous bright yellow cars – which look like they are made of Lego – are being tested by the engineers, and they are much smaller in reality than they look on the screen.

A cordon separates us from the rest of the crowd who are looking on and taking endless photos. "Those people would give their eye teeth to be standing where you are,” says Dominick. These boys have done their research and they know their market.

Before the big race, Eddie Irvine does a lap of the ring in the latest Ferrari. I stand at the edge of the track to get a look. One whoosh of sound and it’s all over.
"Where’s the car?” I ask, innocently.
“It just passed.” I’m told. Faster than the speed of sight, obviously. That’s Eddie Irvine for you.

When former world champion Damon Hill signed for the team in 1998, pundits said a first win in Jordan history was guaranteed. With a Mugen Honda deal on the engine front and Benson & Hedges sponsorship on board, Jordan was prepared to challenge the Big Four of the F1 world, McLaren, Ferrari, Williams and Benetton. The first win came, but Hill’s season has been anything but a success, and he has long been passed out in Jordan by the pace of the young German, Heinz Harald Frentzen. I wonder if Jordan will miss Hill.
“Will I miss Damon?” Eddie pauses, choosing his words carefully.
“There are certain aspects that you would say Damon has very definite attributes in. This year has been very disappointing for him and it has been very disappointing for me. You hate to put too much pressure on someone who’s not actually going to make that much difference. You can give them the best car you can but… well, I’m not saying that the lights have gone out but at the moment Frentzen is doing such a good job that it’s probably more difficult for Damon knowing he’s going to retire this year. He wants to do the best job he can for the team and he is doing the best job he can for the team but in light of what he has won before – that is 22 grand prix – this would be seen as the worst year by his own standards. I have never spoken to him openly about it but would say seven points is one of the lowest parts of his career.”
Jordan has his own views on the whole Eddie Irvine debacle.
“Eddie would have made a great world champion,” he says. “There is an argument that Michael Schumacher did not do enough to help him win the title. He gave an outstanding performance, and the Jordan team are very proud of him, given that he used to be one of our own. Irish people have come to the fore in grand prix racing this season, which is down to Eddie Irvine’s success and the Jordan team.”

With the signing of Jarno Trulli – who will take over from Hill next year – and the success of Frentzen so far, Jordan’s future on the podium looks assured. And Jordan is enthusiastic about the team’s performance this year.
“It was a super season,” he says, “a big boost to the Jordan team. Damon Hill was a disappointment, but we’ll put that behind us now. We are now in the top three, and we are setting our targets even higher for next year.”

The Warburg Pincus deal marks the first time a financial institution has invested in a grand prix team. Although support from chief sponsor Benson & Hedges, Pearl Assurance, Mastercard, Hewlett Packard and Esat Digiphone is assured until next year, the US institution’s investment is there for the long term, giving the 160-strong Jordan team the financial security to aim for the highest goals possible.

At the time of his first grand prix victory, Eddie Jordan said, "I would have hated to have never got beyond everyone saying ‘Jordan is only interested in the rock ‘n’ roll, the razzmatazz, the girls on the grid, snakes on the car and stuff like that. Jordan’s not serious’.”

Jordan has shown that he is serious. It’s only a matter of time before he’s able to ask, “What’s wrong with a bit of rock ‘n’ roll anyhow?”