Michael Gascoyne (born April 2, 1963) in Norwich, England, is currently Technical Director Chassis for the Toyota Formula One team.
Gascoyne has worked for several grand prix teams including McLaren, Sauber and Tyrrell. More recently Gascoyne has worked as technical director at Jordan and Renault and joined the Toyota F1 team in December 2003. With a salary reputed to be as high as $8 million per year (source F1 Racing magazine, February 2005) this would make Gascoyne the most highly paid engineer in Formula One, eclipsing more successful Technical Directors such as Adrian Newey and Ross Brawn.
Gascoyne's highly confrontational and aggressive management style has earned him the nickname "the bulldog".
2005 is considered to be a make-or-break year for Toyota, and with it, Gascoyne's reputation.
Early Career
Mike Gascoyne was born in Norfolk, England, and was an outstanding student, attending the world famous Cambridge University to study fluid dynamics in 1982. Despite a glittering academic career he did not complete he thesis, and so never became Dr Gascoyne.
After leaving Cambridge in 1988 he briefly worked for Westland Helicopters but maintained a keen desire to work in motor sport. In 1989 he joined McLaren as a wind tunnel aerodynamicist but only remained with the team for a single year before joining Tyrrell, who at the time were enjoying something of a renaissance with Frenchman Jean Alesi at the wheel of the 019 chassis.
While at Tyrrell he worked for the legendary designer Harvey Postlethwaite, who came to hold Gascoyne in such regard that when he departed in 1991 to design the Sauber teams first Formula One car, he took the twenty-eight year old engineer with him to Switzerland. Postlethwaites stay with the team was short, but Gascoyne remained for the first season, his Sauber C13 chassis taking 12 points during 1993, an outstanding achievement for a new constructor.
By late 1993 Postlethwaite had returned to Tyrrell and invited Gascoyne to become deputy technical director responsible for the design of the teams 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. When Ken Tyrrell announced his intention to sell to British American Racing, Gascoyne was forced to leave in the knowledge that the re-named BAR was to employ Malcolm Oastler as Technical Director.
Becoming Technical Director
In June 1998 Mike Gascoyne joined Jordan Grand Prix as Technical Director and immediately set about designing the 1999 challenger. The season was the teams most successful to date, finishing third in the constructors championship and taking two race victories. Despite the 2000 season failing to deliver the same level of competitiveness, Gascoyne’s reputation as a capable Technical Director was secure. Shortly before the start of the 2001 season he moved to Benetton, who's results had been in serious decline since the mid-1990's.
Gascoyne’s two-and-a-half seasons with Benetton, and later Renault, saw a marked improvement in the teams 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 for an undisclosed financial settlement.
In December of the same year Gascoyne made his move to the Cologne base of Toyota and began working on the 2004 car. With Formula One design timelines stretching back many months before the season begins, he was unable to have full influence over many early decisions and the season proved to be a disappointment. In 2005, with a budget allegedly similar to Ferrari's and resources only a giant, multinational car manufacturer can provide, many see the year as Gascoyne’s ultimate test.
