2002 Jordan EJ12

Remember the launch car, chassis number 1 that was driven and tested by Takuma Sato at Silverstone before being flown by DHL to Brussels international airport where it launched the 2002 Jordan F1 season on the 20th February held in the DHL hangar? Well, this is that very car.

But, whereas a full-blown F1 engine takes a team of engineers and considerable computing power simply to start it much less drive it, this one’s Judd KV8 Zytec S3000 Formula 3000 engine can be started by one person alone simply by pressing a button…

You see, Honda does not allow its engines to leave its hands, hence the change of motive power. It’s also mated to a five-speed pneumatic paddle-shift Lola/Hewland gearbox, which benefits from the latest Geartronics GCU upgrade. The combination is a compelling one as it makes the car much more usable and significantly cheaper to run while only losing the sort of performance edge it would take a genuine F1 driver to exploit…

Released for sale to the public as a rolling chassis in 2004, chassis #1 has been in the care of the vendor for the past seven years after being bought from its second owner in Sweden. A full-on bonkers car enthusiast, he swapped a passion for Ferrari (he’s had 29 road cars in his time) for the adrenaline-fuelled delights of running F1 cars. This is his third and even he has been amazed at the doors it has unlocked for him – and how reasonable its running costs have been

Extraordinarily popular, EJ12 has been touring Europe doing demonstrations at various race events for the past few years, unlocking access to events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2016, where it was on static display.

Why is it so admired? Well, only five EJ12s were ever built: two were written off, and one disappeared after possibly being stolen. Chassis #4, which Takuma took to fifth place, is in the Honda museum and is unlikely to ever leave it, even briefly. This means that if you want to see an EJ12 running this is your only option.

It comes as a complete package, including the original 2002 Jordan / DHL team wear and a garage set up that enables you to create a 1:1 scale full-size diorama.

Oh, and all the future invitations that the owner has will be transferred to the car’s new owner should they want them – and while the vendor does hold a basic competition licence, he has demonstrated it using nothing more exotic than a normal UK road licence on occasion.

All that’s necessary is to join the Force demonstration group, which usually only costs £250.00 per event. The vendor also points out that the car has been scrutineered many times without problem.

Presented in the same livery as was used in the Suzuka Grand Prix of October 2002, the iconic scheme became known as the ‘Suzuka Legend’.

Its condition is racecar-good, which is to say that there are a few marks here and there but then this is a genuine racing car and as such any blemishes are an important part of its history and provenance.

And, just like the Formula 3000 engine, the bodywork needn’t break the bank either; the owner damaged the nosecone and was horrified to discover that tooling up to produce a new one would cost him £35,000.

A resourceful chap, he put out a call on the car’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/JordanEJ12andArrowsA21F1) and was quickly contacted by a man who offered to sell him one for £6,500. Not exactly small change but then not as ruinously expensive as you probably thought.

The nose cone and sidepods have been painted only recently, and fitted with new decals. The correct silver and red Honda decal, along with the proper Jordan one, hadn’t been applied when the photographs were taken but they will be in place by the time the auction ends.

Speaking of the yellow bodywork, you might not be aware that an important part of the agreement when DHL invested in Jordan Grand Prix was that they would have to change their whole operations fleet to yellow.

The full carbon fibre composite tub’s interior is a snug fit but then it was designed for someone who is 5’ 5” tall... The vendor has had the pedal box modified and a seat personally made (as usual) to allow him to drive although he does suggest that anyone significantly taller than about six foot is going to struggle to squeeze themselves in if they want to actually drive it.

The steering wheel is not the original but it is a very good replacement that works with the Lola/Hewland five-speed gearbox’s flappy paddles.

You sit just an inch or so off the floor and you can’t move when the Sabelt harness has been tightened. It really is the complete F1 experience as Freddie Hunt (yes, HIS son) who was so enamoured that he offered to swap a drive in one of his father’s old cars to get behind the wheel…

The Judd KV8 3000 Formula 3000 engine revs to just over 10,000rpm and produces something in the region of 520bhp. Freshly rebuilt only 4-500kms ago prior to the vendor's purchase, it has a predicted life of around 3-5,000kms, so there’s plenty of life left in it yet.

And, when it does need rebuilding, you’ll only have to stump up around £20,000 too, which is staggering value when you consider the cost of rebuilding a genuine F1 engine would be a minimum of twice that for even the simplest work.

The vendor previously owned Jos Verstappen’s 2000 Arrows A21 car with the full-on, high-revving V10 which, he says, “ate me out of house and home to run”.

The benefits aren’t just financial because it runs on Shell V-Power petrol and can also be started single-handed, although having a couple of mates on hand will make the whole job even easier. Again, the contrast between starting this and starting the original RA002E engine couldn’t be starker…

As you can see and hear in the video, it has a proper race-engine scream to it and yet is surprisingly tractable; with a 5,000rpm usable rev range, the boss, no mean helmsman himself, said of it: “there’s no need to be scared”.

The clutch is only there for starting the car, all other gearchanges being made without it.

The owner took great care in the installation of the new engine and gearbox. Keen to preserve the Jordan’s external appearance as far as possible, the exhaust pipes have been routed to exit in the original locations.

Chassis #1 has been maintained by Henderson Engineering in South Wales. It knows the car inside and out and they would be very happy to continue to run the car for the new owner.

The car comes with a complete spares and garage package, including:

• Two sets of wheels plus two additional unused sets of wet and dry Michelin tyres.
• Two spare new rear rims and two used front rims.
• Set of 4 tyre warmers.
• High-lift jacks and low-rise floor stands.
• A selection spares including wishbones.
• A selection of tools.
• Fuelling tanks.
• Charge packs for both the workshop and trackside.
• Engine preheater

In fact, the car comes with everything you will need to run it. It is fully operational, with an onboard starter motor for ease of starting and running.

Interestingly, the 2002-season cars were due to feature electric power steering, a move that didn’t happen in the end. This car still features the relevant gubbins behind the nosecone, which F1 enthusiasts and engineers alike will find fascinating. They are obviously redundant and not part of the steering, but help authenticate the car.

The car also benefits from a rewire by Henderson Engineering during the winter of 2016; full details are available.

It also has also only undertaken one demonstration run at Brands Hatch since being fitted with new brake discs and pads on all four corners. The fuel tank has also been removed and examined recently, and the fuel pumps checked.

The owner also has contacts for many of the original engineers involved in running the car, which makes its ongoing maintenance much easier. The rear corners, for example, are standard Lola and so only cost around £5-7,500 each to replace as opposed to the £50,000+ the genuine Jordan ones would cost to have fabricated.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

Said to have cost in the region of £4.5 million per car, the EJ12’s re-engined status is par for the course in the arcane world of ex-F1 cars; while Ferrari will sell you a complete, running vehicle it insists on retaining it at Maranello and then only lets you exercise them now and then…

This one, on the other hand, can be started and driven at will - and rebuilding the engine will cost you about the same as a road-going Ferrari. Makes you think, eh?

Because, in addition to the most thrilling drive this side of a high-end superbike, the new owner will continue to enjoy the sort of invitations and opened doors that the rest of us can only dream of.

Eligible for the Boss GP Championship (www.bossgp.com/) should the new owner want to stretch its legs now and then, its forte is the demonstration run, either solo or in combination with other retired F1 racing cars.

Takuma Sato, who you’ll know has just won the Indianapolis 500 for the second time, is very keen on the car (he calls it “our car” in conversation with the vendor) and there is a standing invitation to take it to the next Suzuka Grand Prix with all expenses paid.

Of course, it goes without saying that the invitations the owner has already received will be transferred across to the winning bidder.

How much will access to your new jet-setting lifestyle cost you? Well, as the only running EJ12 in the world, we think the bidding will end at a six-figure sum that starts with a ‘2’ but the owner is a pragmatic man and accepts that the post-COVID world has yet to establish itself so the reserve is an awful lot lower than that… Our official estimate is £150,000 - £250,000.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the vendor in Cambridgeshire; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.