He won the 1988 and 1990 Le Mans 24 endurance race, thus helping to break the Porsche monopoly of the event. Mr Davies moved to Stratford from Caersws, Powys with his family in the early 1960s.
His first job was inspired by a passion for cars and he became an apprentice with F Guyver & Sons Ltd or Guyvers of Rother Street, Stratford, where he worked his way up the career ladder and was then offered the position of workshop foreman at Marsh Service Station in Moreton-in-Marsh.
His next career move was to take him ever closer to the fast-paced and glamourous world of motor racing, when he joined GTI Engineering in Coventry.
By the mid-1970s Gary Davies joined the Formula 1 race circuit as number one race mechanic with Theodore Racing where he gained a wealth of experience and enjoyed success at one of the highest levels of motor sport.
From here he went on to join a young team at TWR where he would build and oversee the new Jaguar XJS European Touring Car and went on to win the 1984 Drivers’ Championship and in the same year the prestigious Spa 24-hour race.
The success of the touring car programme saw Jaguar invest and enter a number of cars in the World Sports Prototype Championship where Gary Davies built, tested and prepared cars before they hit the race track.
As number one race mechanic Gary and his team went on to enjoy more championship victories in 1987, ’88 and ’91, ultimately winning two Le Mans titles in 1988 and 1990.
The success of his racing career over the years earned Gary Davies immense respect in the motor racing industry, not only for his influence and mechanical skills, but also for friendships he formed along the way.
He was also featured on the front page of Autosport magazine at the height of his career.
Mr Davies’ funeral was held at Oakley Wood Crematorium on Monday followed by a celebration of his life at the Bear public house in Swan’s Nest Lane, Stratford.
The Le Mans-winning 1988 Jaguar XJR9 displayed at Mr Davies’ funeral and, left: Gary Davies pictured after another motor racing victory at
Silverstone.
In tribute to his memory, former colleagues at Jaguar Motor Racing put on display the Le Mans-winning 1988 Silk Cut Jaguar XJR9 in front of the Bear pub in a rare public outing for the racing car.
This week, his son, Carl Davies, told the Herald: “My father was a well-known and lovely character around Stratford and will be missed by his family; his mother Margaret Davies; his sister Gill Davies; his partner Carole Worley; myself, and all his friends.
“He was a huge inspiration to me, not only with the things he achieved over the years but as my dad and best friend.”