In this paper, we consider the problem of modelling the average delay experienced by an application packets of variable length in a single cell IEEE 802.11 DCF wireless local area network. The packet arrival process at each node i is assumed to be a stationary and independent increment random process with mean ai and second moment ai (2). The packet lengths at node i are assumed to be i.i.d random variables Pi with finite mean and second moment. A closed form expression has been derived for the same. We assume the input arrival process across queues to be uncorrelated Poison processes. As the nodes share a single channel, they have to contend with one another for a successful transmission. The mean delay for a packet has been approximated by modelling the system as a 1-limited Random Polling system with zero switchover times. Extensive simulations are conducted to verify the analytical results. © 2011 IEEE.