he origins of April Fool’s Day are rather obscure. There are several takes on it, most of them revolving around the tale of a changing calendar system with massive mockery made of those still following the older dates. But, whatever the origins, the idea and practice of April Fool’s Day is not obscure at all. We started with small practical jokes in school, telling unsuspecting boys that their zippers are open when they’re not.

As we get older, the jokes grow in sophistication. Corporations and news agencies join the fun. BMW, for example, is well-known for the annual April Fool adverts that is worth a separate article on itself to go through. In one of his recent posts, SBY listed a few pranks from the manufacturers themselves. In fact, our friend himself also perpetuated another joke of his own (remember the Chinese Rolls-Royce?), though I have yet to check if he manufactured it himself, or sourced it externally.

I must admit that when I first saw the the “Geely GE”, I went to double check on Google, found nothing of the sort and realized it was a prank. In my defence, since I saw it on the 31st of March, it doesn’t count. Usually, we would fall for the first one of the day, and for the rest of the day, we remain in super-alert, super-vigilant, anti-April-Foolsmode until the end of the day. Any news that’s even remotely shocking is treated with complete scepticism, and men would ignore comments of “Your fly’s open” when it really is.

For this year’s Fool’s Day, as I prefer to call it, I was spared most of the pranks, because I was effectively spending half of the day on the PLUS highway driving from KL to Penang to meet Eddie Jordan. Yes, Eddie Jordan of Formula 1 fame. Ever since selling his beloved “rock-and-roll” F1 team to the Midland Group in 2005, the man has been touring with his band “Eddie & The Robbers” and is now a commentator with the BBC for F1 races.

He’s in Malaysia for the Sepang GP, and Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa Penang hosted him in a special dine-in session with guests and members of the media at their in-house restaurant, Feringgi Grill. I was invited to represent AW, and as I was packing for the event, I could not find the spare batteries for my camera, and thus, had no choice but to leave with whatever juice I had left. As luck would have it, and aptly on April Fool’s Day, my camera ran out of batteries in the midst of covering an event. It was a moment for expletives.

This piece almost became a one paragraph fare that read like this: We had dinner in the same restaurant with Eddie Jordan. In between dishes, he took the microphone, reminisced of his time in F1, having the crowd in stitches. After dinner, Eddie & The Robbers enthralled the crowd with a performance of rock-and-roll. End of story.

In-house restaurant of Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, Feringgi Grill, hosted the event.

That would have been a massive cop-out on my part, but as I soaked in the ambience sans camera, I had plenty of time to reflect upon Eddie’s wise words as he spoke. His charm is legendary, and it was obvious, from the moment he spoke, that he is an accomplished story-teller, with his moderately thick Irish accent adding plenty of flavour to his words.

Eddie Jordan with his legendary charm…. then my batteries went flat.

Jordan founded team Jordan Grand Prix in 1991, and was responsible for giving the likes of Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine, Alessandro Zanardi, Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher their F1 debuts. Jordan himself admitted that these guys were all groomed to be sold to other teams for a tidy profit. In his own words, Jordan spoke ofFerrari, who signed Irvine from him, ”I absolutely fleeced them,” then raising his glass, “Here’s to Ferrari.”

He also went on to label Irvine a “cheeky b*st*rd”, when asked “Who was, not the fastest, but the smartest driver you’ve ever had?” He recounted how, in 1996, after reaching an agreement with Ferrari to sign Irvine, with a considerable profit for himself also on the table, the Ulsterman almost scuppered the move by telling Jordan how “he couldn’t leave and that the Jordan team was like a family to him.” Jordan eventually sent Irvine a “one million” (the currency was not mentioned) pay off to get him on his way.

In their tumultuous history, Jordan Grand Prix did reach a few highs, springing massive surprises against more powerful opposition. They finished a respectable fifth placing in their debut season in 1991, had both drivers on the podium in the 1995 Canadian GP, and had Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher securing a memorable 1-2 finish in the 1998 Belgian GP. However, putting all those heights aside, according to Eddie Jordan, the team’s biggest success was simply to survive. He remains extremely proud of his small “rock and roll” team, who were playing with the big guns of Ferrari, McLaren and BMW and sufficiently held their own.

Also according to Jordan, and he might have ’spiced up’ the tale a little, Bernie Ecclestone once labelled him and his team as a bunch of “f**king robbers,” to which Eddie replied, tongue-in-cheek, “Thanks, that’s a great name for a band,” and with that, Eddie & The Robbers were born – comprising of Eddie on drums accompanied by Johnny (keyboard & vocal), Pete (bass & vocal) and Matt (guitar & vocal). The quartet, after delivering a couple of renditions at the end of the function, were also scheduled to perform at Hard Rock Cafe in KL on the 3rd & 4th of April.

Eddie & The Robbers
(source: http://eddieandtherobbers.com/)

It is worth noting that Jordan’s childhood ambition was to be a dentist before he was seduced into the world of motor racing. As I reflected on the things he said during the dinner, and also on articles about him, I would imagine that a person of his colourful experiences would have very few regrets, if any. I am sure that all of us, at some point of our lives, would have been faced with choices that would ultimately shape the destiny of our lives – whether we live a life of greatness or mediocrity, of peace or chaos.

The name of the function, Life in the Fast Lane, pretty much summarizes Jordan’s life. Many of us go through our lives driven to survive. The concerns going through our minds would revolve around bills, debts and various other issues to make ends meet come the end of the month. Frustration inevitably creep in, we become exhausted zombies, and many complain of job dissatisfaction.

Somewhere along the line, Jordan must have been faced with one of those life-shaping decisions, and I would surmise, he must have made his choice driven by passion, which in recent times, I found, is a motivator far more powerful than the dollar sign.

It is now a tradition that after the chequered flag falls on the final race at the British Grand Prix, the fans are let in to the centre of the circuit where a massive stage has been set up for the British Grand Prix Party.

Hosted by Tony Jardine, the party is a mixture of music and driver / celebrity appearances. This years music was supplied by regulars Eddie and the Robbers (featuring Eddie Jordan on drums) and Rolling Stones tribute band, The Counterfeit Stones.

Whilst the music creates a good atmosphere, the undoubted draw of the event are the driver and celebrity appearances. Once again, Tony Jardine did a marvellous job of whipping up the crowds support with rallying cries for the British Grand Prix to remain at Silverstone, pantomime jeers at the mention of Michael Schumacher, and altogether more heartfelt decrying of Max and Bernie!

The drivers present all seem to treat the event as a chance to genuinely interact with the fans and speak their minds much more freely than when they have a TV camera and microphone shoved in their faces post race.

This year some of the highlights included Eddie Jordan very vocally telling Max & FOTA to stop messing with a sport that belongs to the fans, not them. Lewis Hamilton cheerfully admitting that his 2009 McLaren is a dog of a car, Nelson Piquet letting on that Flavio is a bit of a tough boss to please, and Kazuki Nakajima revealing that the Toyota owned Fuji circuit is not a patch on Suzuka.

The party bosted an impressive roll call of drivers past and present including Johnny Herbert, Nelson Piquet Jr, Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Jackie Stewart, Derek Warwick, Kazuki Nakajima, Nico Rosberg, Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton (and Pussycat Doll girlfriend), Ross Brawn, Rubens Barichello, Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Martin Brundle, Jake Humphrey, Eddie Jordan, and of course Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Mark Webber and Sebstian Vettel.

Well, well, well… welcome back to the BBC Formula 1. I’ve missed you!

I am writing this on a flight between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur where we’re flying for the next Grand Prix. It is round two of what has started as a knockout season, and we’re expecting more fun and games this coming weekend – rain is predicted.

I am not sure what your perspective was of the Melbourne race but I thought you might like to hear mine.