The ex-Formula 1 team boss is chairman of Rally Ireland

The Jordan Grand Prix founder is centrally involved in Rally Ireland as he is chairman of the event which starts on Thursday evening in Belfast.

"To get a world rally for us is better than Formula One," he said.

"Rallying is where anyone who is anything in Irish motorsport started out, so it's massive for us."

The event starts on Thursday night with a super special stage at Stormont, home of the recently reconvened Northern Ireland Assembly.

Then the route takes in eight counties on both sides of the Irish border with the rally finishing on Sunday with a special stage at Mullaghmore in County Sligo.

Dublin native Jordan believes that the stages around the North West coast of Ireland will be among the most spectacular in World Rally Championship history.

"The scenery there is so magic and so beautiful and we will have these cars ripping around at incredible speeds with the backdrops of the cliff and the mountains.

"And where the last stage will be in Mullaghmore on Sunday, it's like an amphitheatre.

606: DEBATE Give your thoughts on this week's Rally Ireland

"You will be able to see right down on that stage and I don't think there has ever been a stage like that in the World Rally Championship."

Jordan added that the clifftop roads will test the skills of Marcus Gronholm and Sebastien Loeb who are fighting a neck-and-neck battle for this year's world title.

"It will be tricky and if someone is going for a world title they will have to measure up the risk in going so fast along those cliffs."

The Dubliner has even promised to be part of the evening entertainment for rally fans over the weekend as his occasional rock band Eddie and the Robbers will be performing in Sligo Town on Saturday and Mullaghmore on Sunday.

"We'll be rocking the socks off anybody who cares to listen," said Jordan, who plays drums for the Robbers.

Meanwhile, one of Saturday's scheduled stages has been shortened as a mark of respect after the fire tragedy in Omagh on Tuesday morning.

A couple and their five young children are feared to have died as a result of the house fire in the Tyrone town and five bodies have been found so far.

The home of a close family member of the victims is adjacent to the scheduled Sloughan Glen Stage route so the event will be diverted away from the area.