Okay so today was the last stage of the 2010 Total Economy Run. A 400-odd-kilometer roundtrip back across most of the same boring and monotonous roads and terrain we tackled yesterday, it actually turned out to be a lot less tedious and gave us drivers fewer opportunities to fall asleep behind the wheel. And thankfully, despite my hangover from downing way too many beers in the hotel’s restaurant last night, I actually managed to do quite well in the final standings.

Indeed, just a few minutes ago we received the overall results and the scrap of paper pinned up on the marshal’s information board informed me that my navigator (Piet van Heerden) and I had somehow managed to come fifth overall in our Pretoria North Toyota-sponsored Yaris T1. This makes us the second Toyota home after the über-frugal Prius Hyrbid. Not bad going, I’ll certainly admit, but it still doesn’t really mean much to a fuel-guzzling, V8-loving track racer like myself.

Anyway, despite all the boredom dished up by the two days’ worth of driving, my adrenal gland did actually see some action in the unofficial Gymkhana stage held after the final scrutineering session. A brief romp through a tight cone-lined circuit setup in one of the Black Mountain Hotel’s many vacant parking lots, I held the top spot for at least half an hour until a man in a soft ‘n’ ropey Porsche 928 cruelly stole it away from me by a few tenths of a second. Still, I consoled myself with the fact that I only had three cylinders versus his eight. Ken Block would have been proud…