Colin Charles Houghton Davis (29 July 1933 – 19 December 2012) was a British
racing driver from England, who won the
1964 Targa Florio
The 48° Targa Florio took place on 26 April 1964, on the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, Sicily (Italy). Porsche took the overall victory. pp. 56-7
Race
The event was marked by the absence of Scuderia Ferrari: FIA refused to homologate the bra ...
.
Early life
Davis was born in
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, the son of "
Bentley Boy" and
Le Mans winner,
Sammy Davis (who later became ''
Autocar'' magazine's sports editor).
Davis was an advertising executive who raced a 500cc Formula 3
Cooper
Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to:
* Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels
Arts and entertainment
* Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads
* Cooper (video game character), in ...
before moving to Italy from where he conducted his own racing career.
Racing career
Davis competed in two World Championship
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
Grands Prix, finishing 11th in the
1959 Italian Grand Prix
The 1959 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 13 September 1959. It was race 8 of 9 in the 1959 World Championship of Drivers and race 7 of 8 in the 1959 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 29th ...
in a
Scuderia Centro Sud
Scuderia Centro Sud was a privateer racing team founded in Modena by Guglielmo "Mimmo" Dei and active in Formula One and sports car racing between 1956 and 1965.
Dei had been an amateur driver in the 1930s. In the early 1950s he opened a Maser ...
Cooper
Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to:
* Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels
Arts and entertainment
* Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads
* Cooper (video game character), in ...
-
Maserati. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races.
Davis finished eighth overall and a class winner in the 1960
Nürburgring 1000km, sharing a Ferrari 250GT with
Carlo Abate. In the same race the following year he finished fourth overall, again with Abate, in a Ferrari 250GT. Also in 1961 Davis finished fifth in the 4-Hours of
Pescara
Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...
, driving solo in a 1,600 c.c.
Osca Sport. He shared the winning
Porsche 904
The Porsche 904 is an automobile which was produced by Porsche in Germany in 1964 and 1965. It was officially called Porsche Carrera GTS due to the same naming rights problem that required renaming the Porsche 901 to Porsche 911.
History
After ...
GTS in the 1964
Targa Florio
The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...
with
Antonio Pucci.
Later life
After Davis retired from racing, he emigrated to
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
and worked as a radio broadcaster.
He died on 19 December 2012 after a long illness.
Racing record
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(
key)
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results
See also
*
1966 24 Hours of Le Mans
*
O.S.C.A.
O.S.C.A. (Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili—Fratelli Maserati S.p.A.) was an Italian manufacturer of racing and sports cars established 1947 in San Lazzaro di Savena, Bologna, by the Maserati brothers, and closed down in 1967. The ...
*
S. C. H. "Sammy" Davis
References
Profile at grandprix.com
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Colin
English racing drivers
English Formula One drivers
Scuderia Centro Sud Formula One drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
12 Hours of Reims drivers
World Sportscar Championship drivers
1933 births
2012 deaths
Porsche Motorsports drivers