JORDAN 191, 1991

“My team manager Trevor Foster phoned me when Michaeldid his first test for us in the car at Silverstone, 33 laps, on a part of the circuit we used for shakedowns,” Eddie Jordan tells me. “I remember Trevor calling to ask me to check that allthe cones were in the right place, that nothing had been changed. When I asked him what was going on, he said, ‘the speed this guy is carrying through the corners is like nothing I’ve ever seen’.” The Michaelin question was, of course, Schumacher. It’s part of motorsport lore that the (statistically) greatest Formula One driver of alltime got his big break in the 1991 Belgian GP, replacing the otherwise deposed Bertrand Gachot in only the 11th F1 race for the self-styled punk rock Jordan team. Schumacher didn’t make it to the end of the first lap on race day, but he’d served such significant notice that he was immediately swept away to the Benetton team. The rest is history. But the fact is, Michaelactually got lucky. The Jordan 191 remains one of the classiest F1 newcomers in the sport’s history, beautifully designed by Ulsterman Gary Anderson, with the powerfuland reliable Ford-Cosworth 3.5-litre V8 packaged in that elegant low-line chassis. Jordan scored points in its fifth race, with regular driver Andrea de Cesaris finishing ninth in the drivers’ title and the team fifth overall. OK, so the green paint scheme and Tourism Ireland sponsorship might have played up to EJ’s ‘Oirish’ roots, but the 7UP logo worked a treat on the airbox, the Fujifilm strip looked great on the rear wing, and the blue panelon the side pods accentuated the car’s proportions. Nice one, Eddie.