Colin Davis

Colin Charles Houghton Davis was born in July 1933, the son of  "Bentley Boy" and journalist SCH Davis, so it was fairly inevitable that he would become involved in motor racing. Colin made his debut at the Commander Yorke meeting in August 1954, supervised by his father, diving a new Mk VIII Cooper. He made a very creditable second place to Charlie Headland and ahead of Ivor "the driver" Bueb in the race which gave him third overall in the Yorke Trophy.

Davis became a regular during 1955 and 1956 in his Cooper with some creditable placings. The first recorded comes as a fine third in the Earl of March Trophy in April '55 to Ivor Bueb and Don Parker, followed by a disappointing retirement from the 50 mile Daily Express International in May then sixth in the Redex Trophy, Crystal Palace on the 30th. A win followed in the Senior Final at Brands Hatch on 12th June beating Parker again but he was down to sixth on 1st August, albeit against a top notch field. Colin then took a brief tour of Sweden where he retired from the Swedish Grand Prix then took a fine second place to Ken Tyrrell at Karlskoga on the 14th. Back home, he retired at Aintree after a wheel parted company but he'd done enough to be loaned Francis Beart's modified Cooper for Oulton Park where he took second in the Gold Cup, to David Boshier Jones. At Castle Come on 1st October, Colin took a third against a quality grid, again in the Beart Cooper but he didn't feature in the final of the Yuletide Trophy after winning his heat.

The Daily Express 50 Mile race at Silverstone, 7th May 1955. Photo courtesy Colin Davis.

Colin battles with Stuart Lewis-Evans at Brands Hatch in 1955 (probably the Daily Telegraph meeting on 1st August).

A frustrating day at Aintree, Colin retires from third with stub-axle failure, September 1955. He would suffer the same fate at Castle Combe.

Colin continued into '56 with the Beart Cooper taking a second in the Earl of March Trophy to Ivor Bueb's Ecurie Demi-Litre Mk IX then a major win at Aintree on 21st April over Lewis-Evans, Bueb, Parker and Allison and a second in the International Trophy at Silverstone to Jim Russell, after a ding dong battle with Bueb. He retired at Goodwood on 21st May and could only manage eighth in the Midsummer 100 at Aintree and another retirement from the British Grand Prix but bounced back with a third at Goodwood after a close battle, 0.8 of a second covering four cars! Retirement followed at the Gold Cup meeting after which Colin moved on to the occasional Grand Prix start and a win in the Targa Florio in 1964, driving a Porsche.

Colin with Rob Young, 2011

Colin passed away in December 2012, aged 79, at his home in South Africa..