In late 1993 Postlethwaite returned to Tyrrell and invited Gascoyne to become deputy technical director responsible for the design of the team's 1994 car.

Gascoyne accepted and remained with the team for four years, although lack of money severely limited his ability to produce a competitive racing car.

[citation needed]In June 1998 Gascoyne joined Jordan Grand Prix as technical director and immediately set about designing their 1999 car.

Gascoyne's two-and-a-half seasons with Benetton, and later Renault, saw a marked improvement in the team's fortunes, culminating in victory at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.

By now however, the highly rated technical director had already been placed on gardening leave by his French employers pending a move to Toyota F1 for an undisclosed financial settlement.

The early stages of the 2006 season proved to be average, with the team struggling with the late switch to Bridgestone tyres and the new V8 engines.

Toyota surprised the Formula One community by dropping Gascoyne from their technical department after the Melbourne race where Ralf Schumacher finished 3rd on the podium, especially as the Englishman had contributed to their rise in competitiveness during 2005.

Although he made no immediate comment, the Toyota team issued a statement citing a "fundamental difference of opinion with regard to the technical operations" and that Gascoyne had been suspended until further notice.

They failed to gain entry, but Gascoyne continued to work on the plans and got backing from the Malaysian government to form Lotus Racing.

The interest of the Caterham Group in international endurance racing follows the setting up of a 50/50 joint venture with historic French manufacturer Alpine to develop a new road-going sports car.

[1] The company's main focus is in developing lightweight composite solutions for application in the aerospace, motorsport, automotive and marine sectors.

[12][13] Silvi Belle 2 started at the Transat Jacques Vabre on 7 November 2013 under the name of Caterham Challenge with Gascoyne as skipper and Brian Thompson as co-skipper, leaving Le Havre, France for Itajai, Brazil.

Following his love for competitive extreme sport Gascoyne fulfilled another lifelong dream by sailing solo non-stop 3200 miles across the Atlantic in 2012.

He crossed the Atlantic on a Class40 racing yacht leaving Cascais (Portugal) on 28 November 2012 and arriving in Grenada (Caribbean) on 14 December 2012.