Colin Charles Houghton Davis was born on July 29th 1933 in London. Son of Le Mans winner Sammy Davis, he started racing early on, competing in British Formula 3 before moving to Italy to race in sportscars, becoming on O.S.C.A. works driver, being entered for the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix, although the car could not be prepared in time. In 1959, he made his definitive Formula 1 début for Mimmo Dei's Scuderia Centro Sud, competing in France and Italy. Qualifying in the lower midfield in both races, he finished eleventh in Italy, his best finish. After this, he returned to Formula Junior, scoring a handful of wins in France, as well as a non-championship F1 victory at Messina.
His career took off from 1960 onwards, when he signed to drive for Scuderia Serenissima in sportscars. While sporadically competing in a handful of non-championship F1 races (which he did from 1957 to 1965), he experienced considerable success in sportscars, scoring third in the Paris 1000km before moving to the works Porsche team. In his first race for the team, the 1964 Targa Florio, he led the team to victory, what would remain his greatest success. He later finished second in the same race in 1965, then third at Le Mand in 1966, before retiring from motorsport in 1967 at the age of 34, emigrating to South Africa.
Colin Davis died on December 19th 2012 in Oranjezicht after battling a long illness. He was 79 years old.
RIP: Colin Charles Houghton Davis (29/07/1933 - 19/12/2012)
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