Hughes is patron for 2011 KQ Classic Rally

By FEVERPITCH REPORTER

Winner of the 1964 East African Safari Rally in a Ford Cortina GT, Peter Hughes, has been appointed patron of the 2011 Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally.

Event Clerk of the course, Surinder Thatthi said Hughes’ choice as patron of the 2011 KQ Classic Safari is a befitting recognition for all he has done in and for the sport.

Hughes, 75, was born in Nakuru where his father sold Ford cars and trucks. The franchise in Nakuru prospered and he relocated to Nairobi and set up Hughes Ford motor showroom along Kenyatta Avenue.

Hughes studied at university in Loughborough, England. He returned to Kenya and became Ford motors dealer in Eldoret from where he regularly gathered race cars. He drove a Porsche. He later married Carol Quinn, with whom he has a daughter and three sons. During his rallying career, he entered 14 Safari Rallies, driving a Ford car and finished in respectable positions, with his best performance being a first position in 1964.

He is one of ‘The Magnificent Seven’ who managed to get back to Nairobi after heavy rains submerged half the route in the 1964 Safari Rally. In early 1970s, multinational car dealer Inchcape set up a company to assemble cars in Kenya and Hughes was made to run the AVA assembly plant in Mombasa.

But he did not give up on the sport. He only switched to the organisational side and was Clerk of the Course for the Safari for many years.

Carol and Hughes today live quietly in their Karen, Nairobi home. Their garage has two Model T Ford cars as he cannot forget the significance of Ford to the Hughes family.