• Among the Jordan 191 chassis, 191-3 achieved one of the strongest overall performances during the 1991 season
• The car has remained in essentially its original condition since 1991
• Only one owner since being acquired directly from Eddie Jordan in 1992
• Strong and well-documented history
• Primarily driven by Andrea de Cesaris during the 1991 season, giving Jordan a 5th place finish in the constructor's championship and Andrea himself 9th place in the drivers championship

"Rarely has a new arrival made such an impact. In the space of six months, Team 7UP Jordan exploded several myths about the impenetrable nature of Formula 1 and, along the way, exposed one or two of the established teams as half-hearted, shambling amateurs. Considering Eddie Jordan's loquacious tendencies, it is fitting that his team should have been the talk of the paddock..."

No less an authoritative publication than that year's 'Autocourse' annual began its survey of the Irishman's meteoric debut season as a Formula 1 entrant and constructor with those words. Irishman Eddie Jordan had been a privateer owner-driver in Formula 3 before aspiring to team ownership and progressing up the motor racing ladder. His extrovert style and outspoken nature attracted as many detractors as fans, and when Jordan announced his intention to step up from Formula 3000 – the contemporary equivalent of today's Formula 2 – to Formula 1, many felt that he was about to receive his comeuppance. But then he announced a deal he had struck for his new F1 cars to run Cosworth-Ford HB V8 power units. And when his revamped team's first Jordan-Ford 191 car was unveiled, former racing mechanic-turned-designer Gary Anderson's credentials gained widespread respect.

Eddie Jordan then parlayed a major sponsorship deal with Pepsi Co, beating at least two established Formula 1 team owners who had pitched for the same support spluttering with indignation. By aiming lower in financial terms, Jordan had raised the stakes – breaking a comfortably established and extravagant mould.

His team of two Jordan-Ford 191s made its F1 debut in the opening 1991 Grand Prix at Phoenix, Arizona, USA. His drivers were the Belgian Bertrand Gachot and Italian Andrea de Cesaris. Gachot brought enthusiasm, burning competitiveness and money – de Cesaris through his father's long-time connection with Philip Morris Marlboro, brought boundless ambition, and money. He was experienced - this would be his eighth team in 11 seasons of Formula 1 competition. But Jordan and his experienced ex-journalist team-manager Ian Phillips were convinced de Cesaris had the experience to deal with the pressures of having to pre-qualify just to achieve a starting slot for each World Championship race. In that, he failed in Phoenix, missing a gear to damage the Ford HB engine, but thereafter he never looked back. And neither did the new team, both cars making every Grand Prix round before finally breaking free from pre-qualifying status at mid-season.

Gary Anderson had hoped to qualify 15th-17th on the starting grids. In fact by only the second race his cars lined-up 10th and 13th. Round 3 at Imola saw them qualify 11th-12th and then soon racing amongst the top ten, though Gachot spun away his chances and de Cesaris suffered a rare gearbox selector finger breakage actually in this very car – chassis '3' – upon its public debut. Chassis '3's full 1991 racing record then developed as follows:

Monaco GP, Monte Carlo – Team spare car
Canadian GP, Ile Notre Dame, Montréal – q.11th – FOURTH
Mexican GP, Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, Mexico City – FOURTH
French GP, Magny-Cours – SIXTH
British GP, Silverstone – rear suspension failure, crashed on lap 41

The car was subsequently retired from frontline use, but its early mid-season heroics had been spectacularly highlighted at the Canadian GP when team-mates de Cesaris and Gachot finished 4-5 to secure Eddie Jordan's first Formula 1 World Championship points. Andrea had then repeated his points-scoring result two weeks later in Mexico, while Bertrand scored further points in the British and German rounds, before emphasising the Jordan-Ford 191's pace by setting fastest lap in Hungary.

Sadly for him, a court case over a traffic incident in London, which had seen Gachot use a can of CS gas in self-defence, brought him an 18-month prison sentence, effectively ending his promising racing career. In his place, Jordan signed a fast-rising young German sports car star. His name was Michael Schumacher. He made a sensational – if brief – debut in the Belgian GP in a Jordan-Ford 191 sister car to chassis 3 offered here, but the Benetton team instead then won the 22-year-old German's allegiance and Jordan inherited former Benetton driver Roberto Moreno in his place.

But while the 1991 Belgian GP is remembered for future multiple World Champion Schumacher's Formula 1 debut, it also saw Andrea de Cesaris running second in the closing stages. As race leader Ayrton Senna was struggling with a failing gearbox there was a strong chance that Andrea and the Jordan could win. But the team saw from the car's telemetry that its oil pressure was falling, and – with just three laps remaining – the engine blew-up.

The team's reaction, apart from disappointment, was puzzlement. Normally the HB V8 consumed only one litre of oil per race. Here it had consumed 5½-litres, due to revised pistons having been fitted by Cosworth. Gary Anderson was furious, his mildest observation being that "It's a great pity because that engine could do the job, and do it very well".

As the year had progressed, Jordan's expectations of the Cosworth-built 3.5-litre 72-degree Ford HB V8 engine had soared in concert with their results. However, his 13,800rpm 730bhp power unit had been provided to this upstart new team – an unknown quantity remember, at the season's outset - upon a strictly commercial basis, and after the Spa disappointment Jordan struck an alternative engine-supply deal for 1992 with Yamaha of Japan.

This Jordan-Ford 191 has been preserved for many years in a prominent collection, and is offered here as seen for the first time since being acquired directly from Eddie Jordan in 1992 having been repaired to show car specification. 191/3 does not have the engine installed however it is accompanied by a complete gearbox, side radiators, dampers, brake rotors and calipers, instruments and many other original components. The car will need a new Ford HB power unit and other components in order to run; components which we are advised are readily accessible through knowledgeable sources.

As an iconic example of a Formula 1 debutant which ushered in a completely new marque and proved capable of punching so far above its apparent weight – most significantly having scored Formula 1 World Championship points in no fewer than three title-qualifying Grand Prix races – Bonhams' experienced team consider this Lot to be of particularly fascinating quality and one of the most beautiful F1 cars of the 1990's in its iconic green 7-Up livery.. One bid and this piece of spectacular motor racing history at pinnacle level could be yours...


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