Sir Richard Branson's love of Formula One resulted in one of the world's richest men today throwing the full weight of the Virgin brand behind one of the sport's new teams.

Manor GP, one of four new marques who will help make up an expanded 13-team grid for next season, have been rebranded Virgin Racing thanks to a multi-million pound sponsorship deal with Branson.

Tycoon Branson confirmed one of F1's worst-kept secrets at a press conference in Notting Hill, London.

Branson's entrance, along with Manor boss John Booth and technical director Nick Wirth, was heralded by a dozen electric guitarists creating a sound akin to a Formula One engine.

German former Toyota driver Timo Glock will be joined in the Manor team by former Renault reserve driver Lucas di Grassi.

Virgin are one of four new entrants joining F1 next season, along with US F1, Campos and Lotus F1.

Explaining his latest venture, Branson said: "Our first year in F1 (with Brawn GP) was tremendous for the Virgin brand, so why not go in again with a new team from scratch?

"If you look at the history of Virgin we've loved supporting technical breakthroughs, great engineers, and there's something like 120 engineers working away on this project."

Branson confirmed Virgin Racing would operate on the smallest budget of any of the new teams, under £40m.

Nick Wirth said Bicester-based Wirth Research had designed Formula 1’s first car without a wind tunnel.

The car, on course to run for the first time in February, has already passed most of Formula 1’s mandatory crash tests.

All other major components are also on schedule at Wirth Research, whose workforce has doubled in size to 110 engineers since the new 2010 Formula 1 entries were announced in June.

“We are of course delighted to add Virgin Racing to our burgeoning list of blue-chip clients,” said Nick Wirth, Technical Director of both Wirth Research and Virgin Racing.

“Virgin Racing is an all-new Formula 1 entry and here at Wirth Research we are very proud to be providing the backbone to it with a unique approach to car design and development, part of a process we call ‘Development in the Digital Domain’.”

This process also includes extensive use of Wirth’s Driver In the Loop simulator to “virtually” test and develop new cars before any parts have been produced.

Wirth Research has already proven its capabilities by using this method to design the Acura LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes, the cars winning both classes in the 2009 American Le Mans Series.

In 2010, the all-conquering LMP2 Acura will come to Europe to race in the Le Mans 24 Hours while, simultaneously, the company will be developing a new LMP1 car for the future.

Wirth added: “We will continue our philosophy of major investment in cutting edge technologies to carry on innovating. Our group of companies has involvement in many areas both inside and outside motorsport and our philosophy of technology transfer will continue to benefit all of our existing and future clients.

“The fact that our Formula 1 project is fully on schedule speaks volumes for the motivation and capabilities of our entire workforce. We are all looking forward to seeing the car break cover for the first time on track in February.”

He continues: “Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport technology and working on such an exciting project as the Virgin Racing entry gives Wirth Research a unique opportunity to showcase our engineering talent.”

Booth, whose Sheffield-based team are arguably the surprise package, has confirmed his hope the car will be ready for its first test at the end of January.

Following a long-standing career racing and running teams in the lower levels of motor sport, Booth said: "I've been asking the question all night as to how we managed to arrive here.

"But the budget restrictions have allowed us to get involved, and at the moment I'm on cloud nine. We're the new kids on the block and we need to earn our place on the grid."