By Club Jordan
October 11 2003

Eddie Jordan has spoken to the fans through the pages of the Club Jordan Newsletter. Eddie speaks about almost everything that's happened over the last season and is looking forward to 2004 with a relish. The article is reproduced here with permission. It’s been a long time since I’ve addressed you directly through the pages of the Newsletter, but with J Mag out of action until the end of the season, I thought I would take this opportunity to say a few words to what I know is one of the most loyal fan bases in the sport.

To paraphrase someone famous whose name escapes me for the moment, “rumours of our death have been greatly exaggerated”

There is no point denying that Jordan Grand Prix has gone through a difficult time recently. The well publicised court case took away a lot of my energies and attention from running the team over a period of a few months. I am still disappointed that the Judge saw things differently to the way I did. Now I just want to put it in the past and move on. I am now back full—time running the team, concentrating on how to get the best out of the last two races of this season, while already focussing on next year.

There is no doubt that the general economic recession which has affected even the rarified atmosphere of Formula 1 has hit the smaller teams the hardest. However, on the positive side, in the last few months we have had more commercial interest shown in our team and approaches from potential sponsors than at any time in the last two years. Now we have to work hard, talking to people, in the hope of converting that high level of interest into solid prospects for the future.

Of course, everyone in the team is sad that Giancarlo will be leaving us at the end of this year, He will have been with us for a total of three seasons, having been part of the team back in 1997, before returning to the fold last year, He has made no secret of the fact he wanted to move on. I really hope that, one day, he lands a drive with a top team, as he is a first class driver who really deserves to succeed. At least we can claim to have given him his first ever Grand Prix win. There are no hard feelings and I would never stand in his way. In terms of replacing him, it is definitely a buyers market out there at the moment, with lots of talented young drivers coming through the lower ranks.

As for Ralph, watching his accident in Hungary was a terrible experience. I am just glad he did not suffer any long—term injuries. In fact, as I write this in the office, I can hear the sound of our car running across the road at Silverstone, as Ralph is testing prior to the United States Grand Prix. It’s a shame he had to sit out a couple of races, but Zsolt Baumgartner lucked in to being in the right place at the right time and did a really competent job filling in. He didn’t know the car, but he didn’t embarrass himself or the team and brought the car home in one piece.

As for the future I am currently looking at ways of making the team a more effective force in the sport. As you know, I have always championed the cause of the smaller teams when it comes to campaigning for affordable engines.

I am still working hard on this and I very much hope we can continue to have Cosworth engines with backing from Ford.

We might have struggled bit this season but I am sure you will all agree that this has been a vintage year in terms of the racing we have seen.

This has seen a growth in the popularity of the sport, which has got to be a good thing for the long term future of our team. I know its a hobby horse of mine, but I truly believe that it is teams like us that have kept Fl alive while the big car manufacturers have dipped in and out of it when it suited them. I feel passionately that the future of the sport is in our hands. Rest assured that we will be soldiering on next year, in better shape than ever. More and more sponsors are showing interest in the sport and we have contributed to that interest. Let us not forget that we are one of an exclusive handful of teams on the grid who have actually won races in the last few years, including Giancarlo’s historic victory in Brazil this year.

It might sound like a platitude, but it is true nevertheless: everyone at Jordan really values your support and I look forward to paying it back for a long time to come.