Lex Davison to be honoured at Historic Sandown 2015

An iconic figure in Australian motorsport, Alexander Nicholas "Lex" Davison won four Australian Grands Prix (1954, '57, '58 and '61) and three Australian Hillclimb Championships (1955, '56 and '57). He drove the first Holden in international competition when he contested the 1953 Monte Carlo Rally, and competed in the 1961 Le Mans 24-hour race behind the wheel of an Aston Martin.

 

In 1957, Davison was the inaugural winner of the CAMS Gold Star award as champion Australian racing driver, running under his team name of "Ecurie Australie".

 

But there was more - much more - to this amazing man.

 

Davison was President of the Light Car Club of Australia when it staged the Australian GP at Albert Park in 1956, and was the only other person to drive "Bluebird" during Donald Campbell's successful attempt on the world land speed record.

 

Davison sponsored the Joseph Lucas - Lex Davison Series at Calder Park in the early 1960s, a series to help encourage young drivers. He further wanted to share his motor racing experience with up-and-coming young drivers through the establishment of a unique driving academy - "a high speed classroom" as described in 1964 by motoring journalist Mike Browning.

 

Tragically Davison's dream vanished when he suffered a fatal heart seizure while practising for Round 6 of the 1965 Tasman Series at Sandown in his Brabham Repco V8.

 

Fifty years later, his memory will live on when a Group M event for sports cars and open wheel racing cars of that era will be held at the 2015 Historic Sandown meeting - a fitting tribute to a true legend of Australian motorsport.

 

Further details can be found at vhrr.com.