Eddie Jordan

The race I've chosen is not one in which I had any great personal success. I'd won Atlantic championships in Ireland the previous year, but Formula 3 in '79 stands in my memory.

It was very intense, with many excellent, mainly younger drivers, on the way up. My own performances had been a bit grim at the start of the year, but I was getting nearer the front. Just looking back through that entry: Chico Serra - he drove Fl of course; Mike Blanchet - he's no slouch; Mickey Roe - effing quick; Salazar; Brett Riley - one of my all time heroes; Mansell - I still believe [this was written in 1989 - Ed] he can be World Champion; Guerrero - good; Kenny Acheson - great driver; Bernard Devaney - the biggest waste of all time, he should be in F1 at the moment; Andrea de Cesaris; Thackwell - another real star.

I was running in a team with Devaney and Stefan (Johansson). It's always difficult to put a three-car team together, but Derek McMahon fired up so much enthusiasm it was incredible. Both on and off the track. He was a two bottle of vodka a day man then, but I think he's got it down to a bottle-and-a half now!

Anyway, it was hard because Bernard was Derek's main man and it's a great shame he was never given the opportunity to show how good he was. He was always hampered by lack of finance. He went on to work for Carl Haas in the States.

All season the racing had been so close, and now at Oulton Park, de Cesaris was trying to stop Chico from clinching the championship. They were good days; very friendly, very entertaining and very hard when you were driving. Suicidal effectively. They always maintained I was worse than anyone else, but I don't buy that...

Stefan and I had qualified within a tenth of each other, me marginally quicker than him this time. We were struggling a bit because we'd done Mondello for Marlboro the previous week and hadn't been testing. We were eighth and ninth on the grid but the race was stopped when Guerrero and Rob Wilson crashed at Old Hall. It was quite worrying to see the state of the cars, but the drivers were OK.

In that first start, Andrea had come through from fifth and dived past Chico to lead. But at the re-start he couldn't do it again and it was Thackwell who led from Serra and Kenny (Acheson). Then it was me, Mansell, Stefan and de Cesaris.

Right from the start I could see that de Cesaris was quick. He passed Stefan and I could see that he was faster than Mansell and me. He was a bit of a desperado in those days. He'd had a sequence of heavy shunts and now he could see Serra up ahead and the championship getting away from him.

I got away a bit because Nigel and Andrea were battling. That allowed Stefan to keep up as well. Mansell was never easy to pass but I couldn't believe what I was seeing in my mirrors. One minute I'd see one car and the next minute there'd be cars everywhere.

At the entry to Lodge and Old Hall I don't think the spectators could believe what they were seeing; cars were banging wheels, climbing over each other, being launched... The mother and father of a shunt had to happen eventually because wheels were continually intertwined. Often it looked like there were two cars with a total of six wheels.

I just knew that de Cesaris was going to shunt with someone, and I hoped like hell it was Mansell because I was next in line. And there was no way he was coming by me either...

But I couldn't have wished the shunt that Mansell had on my worst enemy. I remember clearly what happened because I was about seven lengths ahead, keeping a close eye on them. They were being so wild I could envisage a car landing on me at any stage.

The shunt happened on lap 4, but it seemed much later than that to me. Probably because it had been coming for so long. De Cesaris must have gotten alongside going into Foster's and Mansell moved over. This time Andrea decided not to let him. His front wheel went in under Mansell's rear, and it's always the car in front that gets it.

It was massive. Like the end of the world. I was going into the corner and I heard this thing come skittering down the track. It was a shock to me and I remember thinking 'Jaysus, he's going to be hurt'. Later on I couldn't believe that crushed vertebrae was all he had.

I remember thinking that they should have stopped the race, and I lost my concentration. I know I had a problem for a while in adopting the same tactics to keep Stefan behind.

Thack won the race and took a new lap record, Serra finished second and clinched the championship, Kenny was third and I was fourth. It was a memorable day and there was quite unbelievable camaraderie.

Maybe I'm getting old, but these days it doesn't seem quite the same. It's more professional and geared to hospitality and everything. I was 31 at the time and a lot older than most. Many of them were on the way to F1; I just want to be the first of the lot to be an F1 team owner... [And two years after this interview, he was! - Ed]