Jordan 193

The Jordan 193 was a Formula One car, which Jordan Grand Prix raced in the 1993 Formula One season. After the team's disastrous 1992 season, in which they scored only a solitary point, and that in the final race, the team took the decision to replace the unreliable and underpowered Yamaha V12 engines. A contract was signed to use Hart's smaller, but under-funded, V10 engines. The car differed greatly to its predecessors, with a higher nose and very different front wing.

Like most of the cars that competed in the 1993 season, the 193 had numerous driver aids, to assist the driver and improve the car's performance. Traction control was used throughout the season, as were semi-automatic gearboxes. The gearbox caused numerous problems, as it often would jam in one gear. This occurred so much at the beginning of the season that the team replaced the semi automatic gearbox with a manual one, until the semi was reliable enough to race ^[2]. The car also lacked the active suspension that was used by the front runners. The car also had too short a wheelbase, which caused instability in the rear for most of the year, but was later lengthened in an attempt to find more speed. The net result was that the car was usually over 3 seconds per lap slower than the fastest cars, but was still a competent midfield runner.

No fewer than six drivers raced the car throughout the season, with only young rookie Rubens Barrichello competing in every race. Ivan Capelli, Thierry Boutsen, Marco Apicella, Emanuele Naspetti and Eddie Irvine^[3] all raced at some stage of the season. None of the drivers except Irvine were able to match Barrichello’s pace. Boutsen, who drove the most races of the second drivers, was often around two seconds per lap slower than Barrichello.

Initially the performance of the car was encouraging, but the team lacked reliability in the first eight starts, the team had only one finish, which was a lowly 10th. However Barrichello had come close to scoring a podium at the European Grand Prix. Having run near the points for the whole race, Rubens looked set for third when the car ran out of fuel in the dying stages.

Despite heavy revisions to the car throughout the year, such as improved aerodynamics, altered suspension, and more powerful Hart engines, the car's performance stayed roughly the same throughout the year. The one bright spot occurred at the Japanese Grand Prix where first timer Eddie Irvine topped a practice session before both drivers drove brilliantly in the race to finish 5th and 6th, scoring the team's only points of the year.

Although the team was officially classified as equal tenth in the constructor’s championship with 3 points, had the car been reliable, the team could have finished in 6th place, with around the same amount of points as they had scored in their debut season.

The 193 was replaced for the 1994 Formula One season by the 194.

Complete Formula One results

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References