Driven to a dream with no tar roads

From watching 4x4s pass by in his rural home, to a life of off-road passion, Noel Staplefeldt is an inspiration, writes

Land Rover Experience which allowed enthusiasts to put the new vehicle through its paces.

Although he couldn’t afford his own car at the time, he went along. After his drive, he asked the facilitator how he could get involved.

He agreed to work for nothing at weekends, took a taxi from his home in Wentworth to the centre of Durban before swopping to another bound for Hammarsdale from where he still had to walk 5km to the track.

Once there, he inspected and tested the vehicles along the track and ensured they were clean and ready for clients once they arrived for training.

From there, his confidence grew and eventually he took over running courses at weekends.

At the same time, he was working as an assessor at an insurance company. When he decided to move on to a competitor, he was served with a restraint of trade and was out of work.

He had a young daughter and his son had just been born. There was a lot of soul searching. “When you have your back against the wall, you ask yourself what skills you have. Mine was 4x4 training.”

He and his wife, Rose, started Impilo (meaning life and health) from their Bluff home in 2002. They had virtually nothing.

A friend helped out with a vehicle at the outset, and he soon earned enough to buy his own. But there was another bump in the road when it broke down and burnt out on the side of a freeway.

“After that, many people asked me if this was what I really wanted to do? But God was good. If I’d listened to them, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he says.

His first corporate client was Spoornet. It ran a fleet of V6 4x4s – powerful and expensive vehicles used to escort trains and stop wire theft which caused extensive delays. But their drivers did not know the correct operating procedures for off-road driving.

He trained 70 employees throughout KwaZulu-Natal – and went on to build a loyal client base of businesses and government departments.

Many have large fleets of expensive vehicles worth around R500 000 each and taking on drivers who have either just started to drive or don’t drive often is a huge risk, he explains.

Impilo not only trains and assesses drivers but returns every two years to update them and up-skill them to the next level.

One of Stapelfeldt’s strong points as an instructor is that he not only speaks English and Zulu but can also converse in Xhosa and Afrikaans.

Today, 90 percent of his clients are corporates and the remaining 10 percent are recreational drivers. But this is dwindling. There is a definite shift away from 4x4 adventures. People buy these vehicles as status symbols but are often concerned about the repair and maintenance costs, which can escalate during off road driving.

“Driving off-road can be risky at times. Sometimes a tyre can pop or a vehicle can be scratched,” he says, adding that a single 4x4 tyre can cost as much as R5 000.

He also counts an increasing number of wives and partners of 4x4 owners as clients. Many buy gift vouchers for husbands who have got into trouble but are not prepared to admit that they need 4x4 driver training.

In addition to working with the Top Gear team, he has also worked on the Limpopo Off-Road Challenge with the late Collins Chabane, MEC for environmental affairs and tourism in that province, the Spirit of Africa Namibia competition, in which he participated. Legendary rally driver, Sarel Van De Merwe was the host. And he’s done the Land Rover G4 event at Matjiesfontein in the Karoo.

“But my wife is the backbone of the business. She does the administration. That is my weak point. I do the marketing and deal with people. The business wouldn’t survive without her,” he admits.

Working as a couple hasn’t been easy. “You are husband and wife, business partners and mother and father. We have realised each other’s strengths. We support and trust each other – that’s the bottom line,” he says.

Stapelfeldt’s entire family is involved in the business in one way or another. His daughter, Ashley, is studying opera at the University of Cape Town. “My 15-year-old son, Jazmin, joins us on the track (at Gwahumbe) identifying birds of prey for clients as well as giving a short talk on the raptors one may find in the area.”

The family enjoys travelling and camping – and he learns a great deal along the way. An incident near Sani Pass was an example.

It had snowed at Black Mountain and the road was covered in ice. A driver behind him “lost control of the tail” of his vehicle and slammed into Stapelfeldt’s, pushing it to the edge of the pass. His wife was left looking down the cliff while he sat helplessly as the other vehicle was jammed up against the driver’s door. Thankfully, a few guys from another vehicle “virtually rugby tackled” the vehicle that was pushing his car over the edge, pulling it back.

“I tell my clients that you can be the best driver but that things can change in a second. Try to be calm in every situation. Don’t be cocky or over-confident.”

Of course, Staplefeldt has his fair share of amusing memories – including the chief executive of a large company who insisted on back-seat driving while his wife was at the wheel. It dissolved into a huge argument.

A big challenge is the seasonality of the business. In 2003, he set up a second business – insurance assessing – to complement Impilo. When there is less training, he focuses on assessing and, in winter, when there is less rain and fewer accidents, it’s back to 4x4 training.

Stapelfeldt is also a soccer coach at his church and also mentors young men with broken families. He has arranged apprenticeships for many with panel shops around Durban, believing that a chance to learn a skill can open up opportunities - just as it did for him.