It looked like Mission Impossible when Delta Motorsport was awarded the contract to design and build a full grid of 15 cars for the Grand Prix Masters series in just 14 weeks. However, on the 13th of November last year when Nigel Mansell crossed the finish line to win the inaugural event at the Kyalami circuit in South Africa, it proved that the organisers' trust in Delta Motorsport had been well-founded.

Delta is owned and run by two motor-sport engineers, Simon Dowson and Nick Carpenter. At the heart of the new car was to be a carbon fibre monocoque similar to a modern ChampCar, with the construction designed to reflect the latest thinking in driver-safety requirements. The remainder of the car was an all new design - bodywork, aerodynamic devices, suspension and a new installation of the 3.4 litre Nicholson Mclaren 600 hp engine.

With a team of only three full-time design engineers the new designs were worked on literally day and night. Relying upon their former contacts within the industry, manufacture of the new moulds and composite components for the new cars was split between three composite moulders. SPA was chosen to build the monocoques, wings and crash-boxes, whilst KS Composites and Universal Race Technologies manufactured the new moulds, bodywork and floors between them.

Advanced Composites materials were used exclusively to manufacture the monocoques, wings and crash structures as well as most of the bodywork. The use of T700 12k carbon in the chassis construction allowed the new design not only to meet the side-intrusion and other crash test requirements but also to reduce the cost of manufacture by almost 25% compared with previous ChampCars.

The GP Masters series, which pits the skills of previous Formula One drivers against each other, was a resounding success with a sell-out 70,000 crowd witnessing some close competitive racing at the first race in Kyalami. Winner Nigel Mansell remarked after the race, "The dedication and patience invested by everyone involved in Grand Prix Masters is nothing short of exemplary, and I take my hat off to Scott Poulter (CEO, GP Masters) and Delta Motorsport who have given us these wonderful race-cars".

First race of 2006 was held at the Losail circuit in Qatar, also won by Nigel Mansell, who will be hoping for a hat-trick at the next race which is at Silverstone on 13 August.