David Haynes,
chairman of the Haynes Group, has died of cancer. He was 80.

Mr Haynes, head of the group which was distributor for Ford
vehicles, Iveco trucks, Fiat commercials and New Holland, Case IH
and JCB farm machinery, died peacefully in hospital, with his wife
and son at his bedside.

Mr Haynes was born in Loose in 1929 and went to school in Maidstone
before going to preparatory school in Seaford, where his father
went and, latterly, his son.

After five years at Tonbridge School, he joined a large London
timber importer for experience in business life.

At 19 he emmigrated to America where he travelled and worked in 42
of the then 48 States. He held a variety of sales positions which
provided invaluable business experience for the career he would
later have with his family business, Haynes Bros Ltd.

He once said “until you have worked for other people, you cannot
appreciate the problems of your own staff”.

In 1952 his father wrote to him in America to ask whether he
intended to stay there or whether he wanted to join the family
company, making him the fifth generation of a business that had
started in 1790.

He returned to Britain in 1952 and joined the Ford Motor Company at
Dagenham as a dealer trainee where he worked in all departments
including the foundry blast furnaces, machine shop and final
assembly.

In addition, he obtained certificates of all aspects of repairs and
maintenance and worked in Ford’s Export and Business Management
Departments before joining Haynes in 1954.

At the time, the motor and agricultural engineering businesses of
Haynes employed about 30 people and he started his business life
with the company in sales.

In 1956, he joined the
Maidstone & Mid Kent Motor Club, took up rallying and competed
in a national rally around Britain.

After doing a few speed trials and auto crosses he developed an
interest in motor racing, where he successfully raced his own green
Ford Zephyr under the number plate DBH 250 and where he set the
fastest lap times for his class at Goodwood, Brands Hatch and
Silverstone in the British Touring Car Championships and also won
his overall BTC Championship class in 1961.

In 1962 he was selected to drive a Lotus Cortina for the Ford Works
Team under the Willment banner, racing Lotus Continas.

While racing, he met Sir Stirling Moss who is godfather to his son,
and became one of his closest friends.

Sir Stirling said he met Mr Haynes
in 1950 through mutual friends. "He had a great sense of humour,"
he said. "He was a terrific person; a tremendous friend and a fun
person to be with. He was someone I’d always turn to for advice and
to bounce things off.”

In 1960/61 he had the unique opportunity to act as Sir Stirling’s
manager when he was racing in South Africa, New Zealand,
Australia and America.

Mr Haynes married his wife Lesley in 1963, the same year that he
had a most poignant accident at Brands Hatch where his Lotus
Cortina rolled and crashed and where he could have been
killed.

Later, he said: “My attitude to winning is now a little more
philosophical. If it is a case of discretion or valour, then I try
to discard dramatics in favour of endeavouring to finish in one
piece.

“Let’s face it, if you can’t finish, you can’t win”.

In 1966, after more track successes he finally retired from motor
racing on the birth of his son Andrew. In the same year, he was
appointed managing director of Haynes Bros Ltd.

He retained a close interest in motor sport and the company had
great success in sponsoring John Taylor in rally cross in the
1970s, with John Taylor becoming European Rally Cross Champion in
1973 in a Haynes Escort.

In 1995, his son, Andrew, joined the family business following,
like him, an early business career outside the company. Andrew
Haynes became managing director in 2000, with his father becoming
chairman of the group.

In the 55 years he was with the company, David Haynes saw sales
grow from a few million pounds per annum to a business that now
exceeds £70 million, with a staff of more than 300.

His attitude to life was always “Live life for the day. Don’t dwell
on the past and try not to outline the future too much”. His
wife Lesley and son Andrew survive him.

KM Group President Edwin Boorman
said: “David Haynes and I started in business in Maidstone more or
less at the same time during the late 1950s.

“As we both ran family businesses with an elderly relative we
shared our problems.

“However, I did not share his passion for motor cars nor did he
enjoy sailing.

“After one trip on Messenger he did say that he and Lesley would
come again. The fact that they never did speaks for itself!

“We normally enjoyed lunch together every three months and at the
end tossed a coin to see who would pay the bill. Neither he nor I
could understand why the coin usually fell in my favour.

“I always counted David as a
reliable friend. He was somebody who in business always achieved
what he set out to do. Andrew, his son, has a hard act to
follow.”

• You can leave your own tribute to Mr Haynes by clicking here.