 He started off with a private DKW around 1965, a motor car that had the reputation of being unbreakable, even so by "Van".His father Sarel Senior had a long history racing DKWs (and Porsches), and had even won an award from the Auto Union mother company in Germany.Van der Merwe then moved up the ranks to sport a works-Ford Escort Mk II BDA (Belt Driven Assembly), the state-of-the-art machine around 1975−1979.