Targa Florio winner Colin Davis died on Wednesday aged 79.
Davis passed away at his home in Oranjezicht, South Africa with his wife Eva by his side.
Davis epitomised the great unsung racers of the 1950 and '60s, driving F1, sports-racers and endurance cars seemingly without preference.
Although often paired with Carlo Abate (as above, in the Maserati T64 in 1962) and later Jo Siffert (below, in the Porsche 906 Langheck at Le Mans in 1966), his greatest achievement was winning the Targa Florio, with Antonio Pucci, as a Porsche 904GTS works driver in 1964, following that with second place a year later.
Notably, this reflected the glory of his father, the legendary 'Sammy' Davis, who won Le Mans for Bentley in 1927.
Despite his talent and wide range of mounts, Colin Charles Houghton Davis quit the sport suddenly in 1967 following a succession of his friends perishing, a decade later emigrating to South Africa with Eva and their daughter Francesca.
We received a touching tribute from Greg Mills who wrote: "On our last meeting he recounted a story about Alessandro de Tomaso with whom he shared an OSCA in 1958 to a second overall in the 12hrs of Messina and an index win and 11th overall at Le Mans [above, behind the Chamberlain/Lovely Lotus 15].
