It could have been an opening scene from the film Mission Impossible. "Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to start a Formula One (F1) team from scratch. You have 100 days before the start of the season. Good luck."

This was the daunting challenge facing not Tom Cruise but Mark Preston and his colleagues at the newly formed Super Aguri team. Yet it was one he was ready for.

From that point in October 2005, the team had to find the headquarters, cars, highly-trained staff, drivers, sponsorship and all the other add-ons that go with one of the most expensive, highly-pressured and personality-driven businesses in the world.

But it was remarkable how the pieces fell into place. A key factor was the experience of the personnel involved.

The new venture was headed up by Daniele Audetto, formerly team manager at Ferrari and Aguri Suzuki, previously an F1 driver with Arrows and Ligier.

An Australian by birth, Mr Preston had worked with Tom Walkinshaw Racing in his home country before joining sister organisation, the Arrows F1 team at Leafield, near Witney, as head of research and development.

When that collapsed in 2002, he moved to McLaren as principal designer of structures before setting up his own team, Preston Racing, in 2004.

But when the opportunity of being involved in Super Aguri came along, it was to Leafield he returned to take over the bespoke F1 base formerly occupied by Arrows as chief technical officer.

He then tracked down some of the old Arrows cars which had been bought by Paul Stoddart at the Minardi team.

Mr Preston said: "It was a very good stepping stone - I had worked with the car and knew its strengths and weaknesses.

"We stripped out all the bad bits we knew about and changed the design to make it fit current requirements. After that we worked on the ergonomics to make it faster."

Engines were sourced from Honda and soon the car was taking shape as the mad dash to make the first race in Bahrain stepped up.

There were plenty of people who said it could not be done. But Preston and the Super Aguri team proved them wrong.

Mr Preston said: "Most people were amazed that we even got to Bahrain. At the start of the season people predicted we would be seven seconds off the pace, but we were about five seconds down. Now it is about 3.5 seconds."

It may seem a small margin but in F1 terms where every second counts, it is a huge leap forward. It has been achieved through continuous development of the car.

"The car you see is just a snapshot in time. It is in the wind tunnel continuously until the point you see it on the track."

And little by little, race by race, the performance of the car improved.

"Our pit stops are more competitive. We practise them on a Saturday night and other teams are now starting to copy things we are doing, so we can build on that."

Halfway through the season, the gearboxes and suspension were changed which also helped make the car more competitive. Of course, this season has been all about just keeping up with the field. There have been no podium finishes or fastest laps for the Super Aguri drivers, and Mr Preston is keen to point out the level of competition the team is up against.

He said: "We have about 130 permanent staff, whereas other teams have 500. So we have a lot fewer people doing the work.

"Some people outside the business might ask how come we are not winning yet. That's like saying to a small software start-up, why aren't you beating Microsoft?"

The business references are more than coincidence as Mr Preston recently completed an Executive Master of Business Administration at Oxford University's Said Business School.

He said: "Motorsport is not like the car industry, as you do not receive the same amount of training and I was interested in building up my business skills.

"The EMBA has helped me understand the business by looking at it in a very strategic way, by looking at how and why motor racing works, and applying a business structure to it."

Ultimately, considering all the frantic effort to run a team at all, Super Aguri has performed remarkably well. In some ways next season will provide an even bigger test. There will be a new car and expectations will be far higher, but Mr Preston is confident he can continue to surprise the F1 establishment.

"We are doing more than anybody ever expected and we are still building and developing the team. So I think we are a good bet for the future."

Contact: www.superagurif1.com