From Street Racer to Businessman

For many of us, achieving our dreams seems an impossible feat. We often end up letting the world suck us in and we give up on our aspirations or we just simply let the negativity of our peers influence us. This can not be said about Peter Opali, the man behind Carzilla.

Recently at Ricky’s Custom Car Show, car magazine Carzilla was launched. Now we have the opportunity to find out about the man behind the magazine.

Peter attended Concordia College, and later completed his tertiary education at Polytechnic of Namibia where he studied Travel and Tourism Management. One would think that starting a car magazine would be difficult for someone who specialised in tourism management. So how exactly did he manage it?

“First of all, I am a very strong believer in God and without him none of this would have been possible,” he said. “God is good… Fact! That’s my famous saying,” he added.

Peter has always been fascinated by cars since he was young and his older brother, who Peter describes as his mentor, taught him everything he knows about cars. Growing up, the two of them did everything from fixing cars to racing them. On the street racing scene, their reputation grew as the ‘two crazy brothers’ due to them drag-racing and spinning their cars.

“As years passed, we engaged in more forms of motorsport and thus we started competitions such as King of Spin as well as drag racing.” Peter said. “Our names grew even bigger when we focused more on the spinning industry due to constant requests to attend shows all over the country for private and corporate events.”

Seeing as his reputation was growing, his brother advised him start a car magazine. Peter wanted to inform and educate locals on what’s happening on the car scene in Namibia. “This is how Carzilla magazine was formed. I always wanted to do something more with cars other than just driving them but I did not know how, so when my brother mentioned the magazine, I knew that was the answer.”

Peter’s brother is not his only inspiration. “My mother is also a big part of the start of this magazine as she helped, motivated and encouraged me a lot. I love her so much.”

“The goal of this magazine is not only to give exposure to the car industry in Namibia but to educate people on certain day-to-day issues they experience with their cars such as audio set-up,” he said. However, Carzilla will not only focus on local issues, but will also shed light on matters across borders.

“I also aim to promote local companies that don’t really have a medium of advertising that tackles their target market which are car enthusiasts.”

“I also want locals to have a sense of pride in their vehicles as they are featured in this magazine, they can feel proud knowing that their efforts are being acknowledged and appreciated by others,” he added.

Peter aims for Carzilla to reach all the corners of Namibia despite it being a mammoth task. “It will be hard work due to the huge costs involved, but it’s a journey I’m more than willing to take on due to my love of cars and my commitment to my fans.”

In an effort to promote the car industry in Namibia, Peter will be giving away a performance race car every year and promises that even bigger things are to come next year. “The aim is make motorsport and the love for cars bigger in Namibia,” he said.

In an effort to expose local modelling talent, Carzilla will feature Namibian models in each issue. “At the moment there really is no magazine like Carzilla in Namibia. We are fresh, new and have a different approach compared to other car magazines. So right now I would say we are the first of our kind in Namibia. (It has) never been done here before,” Peter said.

In their monthly issues, Carzilla will try to cover all types of vehicles. “Our theme is obviously the funky, new generation look of modified cars in Namibia. However, we do not ignore the race cars, classic cars, exotic cars, luxury cars as well as the small city-dweller fuel-savers,” he said.

Carzilla is available in Spar at the Grove Mall of Namibia as well as at Halaal in Khomasdal, and costs N$30. “We are busy getting it to Rehoboth, Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and the North for now until we go nationwide.”

Peter’s ambition does not stop there. “This has been a dream for at least six years and only now the dream is starting to materialise. From here, the next step is to make a television programme.”

“Keep an eye on Carzilla. More exciting new things are too come from this which will benefit everyone in the car industry and those who love cars,” Peter said.

Follow the magazine on Facebook at ‘Carzilla Magazine’ and on Instagram @carzilla_magazine.

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