For many years, Jordan Racing was one of the perpetual also-rans of the Formula One world. However, its fortunes changed dramatically in December 2003, when it came under the ownership of Richard Lacey, Duke of Worcester. Richard hired a new designer who applied cutting edge techniques to the Jordan F1 car, and from then onwards, Jordan has dominated both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships.
2004 season
The original drivers for the 2004 season were Timo Glock and Giancarlo Fischella, who were both willing to try their hand with one of the less successful teams in F1. However, the quality of the new car showed itself very quickly, causing resentment in certain other quarters within F1. Glock was injured part way through the season, and the team’s owner decided to race out the rest of the season. He won all his races, with Fischella second in the majority of them, and Fischella became F1 Champion for the season. Jordan won the Constructors’ Championship, putting it firmly on the map.
2005 season
Various changes were brought in in car design for the 2005 season, in the hope of reducing Jordan’s dominance, but Jordan’s Chief Designer, Andrew de Lacy, rose to the challenge.
The Jordan drivers for the 2005 season were David Lawford and Jenson Button, and once again they dominated the podium, with David becoming the first driver to ever win every race in the season.
During the year, Jordan Motors also announced its intention to produce the Jordan-Lacey roadster, which was met with both interest and scepticism from the motoring community.
2006 season
Further rule changes did little to dent Jordan’s dominance of F1. However, this year, Button won roughly half the races. Lawford continued to race, and win races, but his primary focus was bringing the Jordan-Lacey into production (in and among his day job). The first models were launched towards the end of the year, and a relatively modest price for a sports car (at around £100,000). The reception was surprisingly good and take-up was excellent, leading to a long waiting list for purchasers.
2007 season
Chris Sampio was hired as second driver behind Button. Button went on to win the title for the second time, with Sampio making a good showing.
2008 season
Jordan kept the same drivers for the 2008 season, but this time it was Sampio who took the title.
Towards the end of the year, Jordan announced that it would be entering a bike into the SuperBike Championship the following year. Again, this was met with scepticism, even after it was announced that Chris Sampio would be taking the ride.
2009 season
With Sampio’s move to bikes, Jordan was left with an interesting quandary as to who to put in its second car. The appointment of Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond took a lot of people by surprise, but he has thus far finished every race, with podium appearances in more than one of them, and won the Monaco Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring (much to James May’s disgust). Button, however, is still the senior driver.
On the bikes side, Jordan’s engineering magic has struck again, with a very efficient machine. However, Sampio has met with unexpected competition from an independent entry from a British Army team based out of Hereford. Sampio and Ben Michaels, the Hereford rider, have thus far dominated the competition, although Sampio has the edge at this point in the season.