Although Culwick has participated in motorcycle racing and rallying, his illustrious career is based more on his management and technical skills rather than on winning racing championships. Now retired (and even this is questionable) in the quiet town of Sabie since 2008, he still tinkers on bikes in his small but well-equipped workshop at home.
In the corner of his garage stands an RC8. It is one of a small collection of bikes which he still owns. It is also one of his favorites and one which, unfortunately, he has decided to part with. “ “I am not getting any younger and accident damage on the body is limiting my ability to ride these bikes as often as I should, so yes, I will have to part with some of them,” Culwick said.
“I was born in Kenya and we immigrated to South Africa in 1962. My illustrious father was a magistrate among his many other attributes – my mother an artist” and he points to various artworks on the walls in his house. “ “A chequered school history and no maths and science meant that engineering studies at varsity was going to be a challenge. So at midyear I quit,” he said.
“As a small boy building Meccano sets was what occupied most of my free time. So it was decided that I should become an apprentice in the motor trade. I joined McCarthy’s. Studied at Tech and creamed maths (which I just could not do at school) and got my Grade A certificates and the rest. Maths just clicked and I scored 100 percent in my exams. I had a brilliant maths teacher – my trade test was an absolute walk-through first time around. I qualified in 1970.
“I was already involved with motorbike racing at this time. I was racing with a Ducati 250cc Mach 3 – the ‘big thing’ in those days. I was very strong on brakes and corner entry. The secret of good braking lies in the progression from when you start braking till that point where you really lay it on the brakes, get the front end to duck – but without locking the front wheel. This generates enormous traction.
“But this came to an abrupt end when my mother found my racing licence and that was – short story – a disaster – and that was it.” He started rallying with Alfa Romeo through a club down in Natal. “Initially just on the service support (technical) side but I did do some rallying also – both driving and navigating. I was rallying with a 1200 Fiat 124 – which later was fitted with Fiat 1600 Twin-Cam motor.
I was a hard-working apprentice and my willingness to learn, earned me many hours of after-hour access to the McCarthy workshop to work on my rally car.” Shortly after passing his trade test, McCarthy Chrysler opened up a dealership in Pinetown – he was the workshop foreman.
However, his stubbornness about absolute quality workmanship soon created friction with management. He eventually decided to quit and joined the Fiat dealer in Durban. The Topolino Club had a fully equipped service crew assisting club members at races and rallies in place at the time – managed by Culwick of course. “At one race we assisted the Alfa team. The next year they asked us to run a service crew for them – it went well and not long after, Alfa offered me a technical position with their race team.”
Fast forward – he then worked on a privateer Robert Thomson’s rally Opel Manta which proved a huge learning curve. He joined the Chev dealer team in 1973 which was established by Basil van Rooyen. “The next year proved intense but the learning involved in developing the Can Am, under Geoff Mortimer was invaluable. “We prepared for the Roof of Africa – me as a navigator in a Chev Firenza with Louis Cloete as the driver. We won that Roof. Chev Dealer prepared a special El Camino bakkie for the same event.”
Then the petrol crisis hit – end of 1973 – the Chev Dealer team was shut down. Next followed a stint with Leyland, still with Geoff Mortimer from 1974 to 1976 when Leyland pulled the plug. The Chev Dealer team was revived to compete initially in Group One and a Half category then full modified rally cars.
“Prompted by the nomadic lifestyle and uncertainty in motor sport, in 1979 I bought a motorcycle dealership in Benoni and started a whole new life. The business was called Benoni Bike Inn. This was during the heydays of motorcycles – sales were excellent.”
“My dad supported me on the management side of the business. We were Honda and BMW agents and during the tough times of the late 1980s we supplemented income by servicing cars also. In mid- July ’95 we moved the business to Edenvale and renamed it Rupert’s Bike Inn. Over the next six years we grew the business by a 100 percent per annum – it was unbelievable. Our service and customer relationships were the best. We sold bikes from the workshop – our customers sold bikes for us (believe it). We started a bike rental scheme with pre-owned BMW bikes which became extremely popular with international tourists.”
“In 2001 BMW was pushing me to change to the new corporate look and a standalone dealership. Eventually I did a deal with Auto Alpina and we started Auto Alpina Motorrad. In 2002 I started racing Boxer Cup again. I did not gel with the corporate culture or the standard of work so in 2004 I sold out of the business, although I continued my work as the MSA technical controller for the Boxer Series. “
“I then started a little workshop at home. However, two house robberies during 2007 – and we decided to quit Johannesburg, retire and we moved to Sabie in 2008. “ Culwick now serves on the Sabie Business Chamber, tinkers with his bikes and, well, practices retirement…
“The secret to a successful business/life, is honesty – admitting your mistakes – taking responsibility and fix what needs to be fixed,” he concluded
