Malaysia Diary, Day Four: To Stand Where The Legends Stood

This photo, taken at my hilariously dodgy hotel in Bukit Bintang, shows three things:

1) A hooker's lipstick. I'm not responsible for that.

2) Dried blood that I've been unable to remove. I'm not responsible for that. I shudder to think about what's happened in this room.

3) A trophy from today's MEGALAP at the Sepang F1 circuit. I am definitely responsible for that. Today, I stood where the legends stood, hosting that gold cup on the Formula One podium in an incongruous combination of white linen pants and a black T-shirt that kind of looked like a Jack Daniels' bottle. We had all sorts of problems at the event, from a broken transponder to my continual missed shifts, but we did it.

I have a lot of complaints about this hotel. But I have no complaints about today.

The story of my race, and some outstanding photos of everything from the podium ceremony to the iconic Sepang track itself, will be in an upcoming issue of Road&Track, but I saved something for myself: this video of me goofing off in the Renaultsport after the event was over. Love this car to death. We took it through the streets of Kuala Lumpur tonight at triple-digit speeds, weaving between the little one-liter city cars, secure in the knowledge that speeding is a 50-ringgit ($17) fine payable by the roadside.

There are some other things that won't appear in the magazine, like the autocross I did in a an S15 Silvia, and I'll share those over the next few days.

I came, I saw, I raced, I finished in the top three.

Now I'm free to spend the rest of the week at the bottom of a bottle of Ketel One. The response from the Malaysian people, the sponsors, my friends here was all fantastic. Only my son had anything contrary to say: "You should have won. I'm glad you won the race we did together, Daddy". Second place is the first loser, I guess... but after flying 24 hours to race on a track I'd never seen in a car I'd never driven, shifting with my left hand, I have no complaints.