This picture of me with my dad was taken at the Silverstone Grand Prix in 1981 by my mum. The guy in the van leaning out of the window is Alastair Macqueen, the chief mechanic of Eddie Jordan Racing, which my dad set up in 1979 when he worked out that he was a better manager and businessman than he was a driver. We weren't in Formula 1 at that time but we were there to watch our driver James Weaver in a Formula 3 race. He came seventh out of 49, which was a great result. Dad's friend John Watson won the Formula 1 race that weekend.
I'm one in this photograph and in a nappy, but I think I've got a huge amount of hair for that age. I was my parents' first child (I have a sister and two brothers) so it was all a bit of an adventure for them. Mum was only 22 and they were just married. The house they bought in Silverstone was called Little London No10 and it cost £2,000. They furnished it from auction houses; the fridge was 50p, and they had to go to Oxfam to buy coats because they couldn't afford central heating.
Throughout my childhood we travelled in a caravan all over Europe for Dad's racing, and I used to be looked after by the mechanics. But it wasn't glam. Mum said I used to play with the ants all day. In those days you could bung one of the security guys a couple of quid and take cars out on the track to pretend you were racing. When I was old enough I would sit on Dad's knee and race around the track.
It was much more of a relaxed community then; less about money. We'd hang around with the mechanics and all the other teams afterwards and there would be parties. I'm still interested in cars and racing but I'm not a petrolhead, though my husband and I do like to rent classic cars and go on driving holidays.
The drivers used to lodge with us at Silverstone and they would do my hair in the morning, so I grew up in quite a masculine world, but not in a domineering way. There wasn't really time to be girlie. I'd always help my dad get dressed, pick out his suits and ties. I'd have to put the colours together for him because he's colour blind.
I'm really close to Dad and we're very similar. My husband calls us the twins. I still look just like him. We often have nose-offs to see whose is bigger. I moved to Hong Kong in January last year and because a lot of the Grand Prix races are in this part of the world he comes to stay and sleeps on our sofa bed.
I'm now 32 and about to have my first baby, so this photograph reminds me to enjoy the adventure and not take it too seriously - and not to be too precious about things.
Zoë Jordan is a fashion designer who shows at London Fashion Week and was nominated for the 2012 Vogue/BFC Fashion Fund ( zoe-jordan.com ).
Via: Flashback: Zoe Jordan on her Formula 1 past
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