MBR Features Special Paint Schemes for September

Columbus, GA - Maestri Bros. Racing announced today that they would be running a special paint scheme on both of the Lotus 2-Eleven team cars #3 and #7. The paint scheme will feature their favorite college team from their home state of Arkansas, the U of A Razorbacks.

 Driver Ethan Maestri had this to say about the new paint. "I think its great to run this scheme for the next two races on the schedule. For as much as we look forward to a new race season, there are thousands of college football fans that look forward to the start of the NCAA season in September. Paul and I grew up in Arkansas cheering for the Razorbacks and we still do. We'll run these schemes for Infineon and Maple Valley and then Paul over in the paint shop is designing something new for us to run the rest of the season."

 The FRL races into September next week at Infineon Raceway Park on Sept. 5th.

Leaderboard Update - 8/29/13

Leaderboard Update – Infineon Raceway NASCAR Circuit – 8/29/13

No race tonight but lots of practice for next week’s event, here is how the leaderboard looks now:

Lotus

Andrew – 1:19.333

Ethan – 1:20.210

Paul – 1:23.567

Tony – 1:24.270

Brandon – 1:27.711

Carter – 1:31.109

Ross – 1:35.921

Gabe – 1:36.000

AWD S-Class

Andrew – 1:16.875

Ethan – 1:17.107

Paul – 1:18.971

Tony – 1:21.538

Gabe – 1:25.812

Jordan – 1:27.473

Ross – 1:29.244

Again, no event this week. The race at Infineon will be Sept. 5^th at 9 pm Central.

Tony Tyree - FRL Driver

This week we sit down with Tony Tyree of Geekly Retrospect Racing. Tony has been a stalewart driver in the FRL since its beginning, sharing the distinction of starting nearly every FRL event to date. He stops by to give us his thoughts on the FRL.

FRL: So Tony, where are you from?

Tony: Born and raised right here in Northwest Arkansas, I think I've only lived in three houses counting the one I’ve owned now my whole life. Sad I know haha.

FRL: What other pursuits or interests do you have outside of Forza?

Tony: If you were to ask my wife she'd say nothing but I really have lots of interests, movies and TV to name a few along with dabbling in podcasting.

FRL: So, what has been your history with cars?

Tony: It's kinda funny, I came from a family of shade tree mechanics. I’m the youngest of five kids. I've got three older brothers and a sister and there are 15 years between us, so they were all driving ever since I could remember. The earliest cars I can remember was a 70's Corvette Stingray one of my brothers had and another brother had a 68’ Camero. My sister had a couple late 70's Z28's which she wrecked both of them. My two oldest brothers had a body shop a block from the house for a few years in the early to mid-80's. I spent a lot of time down there in the way. As I got older around my 20's I kind of lost interest in cars became more interested in drinking and getting into trouble. But I guess the shade tree must be in the blood because now I'm not afraid to tackle my own repairs if I've got the time and tools for the job.

FRL: What appeals to you most about Forza?

Tony: It really is the cars. There is such a variety of cars in Forza. I really like being able to drive cars I grew up with and I've really started taking an interest in the European cars. I've really had a lot of fun in the FRL. Testing and tuning cars to race I made it a goal this season to run only tune setups I've built myself instead of buying one off the market place like I've done in the past two seasons and I feel really good about that I think for not really knowing what I'm doing I've done fairly well.

FRL: Indeed, the positive results from your garage have shown on the track this season. So, what are your thoughts on Season 3 so far?

Tony: Wow, this has been the best season yet. There has been a great turn out of really talented drivers. The races are a lot more action packed, anything can happen that could shake up the standings at any time. We're what, three tracks in now and I think the U. S. tour we're about to start will really give us some good racing. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season. I'm hoping to lock in a solid fourth place in the standings and get a third place finish in at least one event. But with all the competition it will be a challenge for sure.

 Thanks again to Tony Tyree for sitting down for this FRL Driver interview. Tune in next week when we hear from Brandon Adkins.

The Rookie Battle

 With the conclusion of the race at the Nurburgring GP Circuit, the first third of the season is done. Let's take a look at the Rookie points battle so far.

Driver:               Lotus:           AWD:          Overall:
Gabriel Fast -       21                 33                 54
Jordan Gullett -     15                 21                 36
Carter Fast     -     22                 9                   31

 With an overall point total of 54, it would be easy to say that driver Gabriel Fast is the best of the three drivers. But with only 1/3 of the season done, that would not be a fair assessment for any of these rookies. Gabe has shown a strong driving style, often hanging with and out-driving some veterans of the season. Though struggling a bit with the Lotus 2-Eleven's, he has shown an aggressive ability to drive in the AWD class. This tenacity has garnered him the top spot so far.

 While Gabe certainly has put in a lot of practice time leading up to the season, so has teammate Carter Fast. This has allowed Carter to gain the most points in the Lotus class. However, a general lack of interest in the AWD's prevents him from making ground and getting into the points battle proper.

 This open's the door for Jordan Gullett to make some advances in the points that are concurrent with improvements in his driving style. In watching replays of all three events so far, Jordan appears to be the driver that has made the most improvement thus far. Will it be enough for him to overcome the 18 points needed to take the top rookie spot? Not likely...yet. However, as we head further into the season he may find the coming tracks more to his liking and make further advances.  

 The series returns to the America's for the next three events, beginning with the FRL event at Infineon Raceway Park on the NASCAR circuit.

FRL RADIO RECAP - Nurburgring Grand Prix Circuit Short

Ethan Maestri reviews the Stock Lotus 2-Elevens & Outlaw AWD (2.5 Cap) S-Class races that ran in the FRL on Thursday August 22, 2013. Click the link and enjoy the mayhem! FRL Radio Review - Nurburgring Grand Prix Circuit Short 

Nurburgring Grand Prix Results

Nurburgring Grand Prix Results
Lotus 2-Eleven
Driver	Position	Fastest Lap	Pos. Points	Lap Points	Total Points		Class Points
Andrew Steppat	1	1m34.075	20	20	40		40
Ethan Maestri	2.33	1m34.822	16	16	32		32
Paul Maestri	3.33	1m36.317	13	13	26		26
Brandon Adkins	5	1m38.546	10	10	20		20
Carter Fast	5	1m39.229	8	6	14		14
Tony Tyree	5.66	1m38.785	6	8	14		14
Gabriel Fast	6.33	1m40.723	4	4	8		8
Jordan Gullett	7.66	1m44.583	3	3	6		6
Ross Merkling	8.66	1m47.648	2	2	4		4
AWD Outlaw S-class
Driver	Position	Fastest Lap	Pos. Points	Lap Points	Total Points		Class Points
Ethan Maestri	1.33	1m29.740	20	16	36		36
Andrew Steppat	1.66	1m29.519	16	20	36		36
Paul Maestri	3	1m30.787	13	13	26		26
Tony Tyree	4	1m33.299	10	10	20		20
Brandon Adkins	5.66	1m34.832	8	8	16		16
Jordan Gullett	6.33	1m37.790	6	4	10		10
Gabriel Fast	6.66	1m36.845	4	6	10		10
Ross Merkling	7.33	1m43.479	3	3	6		6
Carter Fast	9	DNF	2	-	2		2
FRL Series Leaderboard
Driver:	2-Eleven Points:		Driver:		AWD Outlaw S-Class:		FRL Series Total:	FRL Series Total:
Andrew Steppat	116		Ethan Maestri		112		Andrew Steppat	220
Ethan Maestri	97		Andrew Steppat		104		Ethan Maestri	209
Paul Maestri	81		Paul Maestri		78		Paul Maestri	159
Brandon Adkins	60		Brandon Adkins		54		Brandon Adkins	114
Tony Tyree	46		Tony Tyree		48		Tony Tyree	94
Ricky Wilborn Jr.	24		Gabriel Fast		33		Gabriel Fast	54
Gabriel Fast	21		Jordan Gullett		21		Ricky Wilborn Jr.	45
Jordan Gullett	15		Ricky Wilborn Jr.		21		Jordan Gullett	36
Carter Fast	22		Ross Merkling		12		Carter Fast	31
Ross Merkling	12		Carter Fast		9		Ross Merkling	14

Ethan Maestri - FRL Driver

 This weeks driver interview is with another MBR driver, Ethan Maestri. Ethan sits down with us to answer some questions about what the FRL means to him.

FRL: Thanks for taking a moment to talk with us today Ethan. We'll start with the obvious question, where do you hail from?

Ethan: Born in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, lived in Arkansas much of my life until work and family kind of pulled us up into Joplin, Missouri.

FRL: What are your interests outside of playing Forza?

Ethan: Haha, too many interests besides Forza according to my wife. No, I've always had a number of hobbies all my life. I've whittled them down to videogames & mountain biking for the moment. I've gone back and forth on starting into anything from stargazing and astronomy to building model railroads though.

 Mostly, I stay busy trying to keep a family (wife, Dionne & son Elijah who is 10) together. Like most of us, balancing recreation with more important pursuits can be a challenge at times.

FRL: What has been your background in cars?

Ethan: I've really always had an interest in cars in some form or another. In my early teens I started a fantasy racing league where my buddies all picked a NASCAR driver at the start of the year, then I'd score our drivers during the season based on the published race results in the newspaper. Later, I collected slot cars and started a race circuit with several friends and family that collected too. My best friend and his family were all mechanics so I went to the local dragstrip with them constantly. My first car was a 1980 Plymouth Volare station wagon with a slant 6 engine. Great car, I swapped in a 318 V8 and took it to the track a few times.

 After that I owned a 90' Mazda 626, then a 98' Malibu then an 03' PT Cruiser. About that time I became a Chrysler technician, and working on cars was enjoyable work. Working on cars for yourself is a lot more fun than working on them for other people though. So, I went into selling parts the first chance I got. I bought an 08' Dodge Avenger when it rolled onto the showroom and wish I had kept it, that was a good, fun car. I traded it for an 08' Honda Accord that the wife drives, I drive my trusty 98' Ford Ranger that I bought 15 years ago, its been traded around the family a few times and has now been back in my possession about 8 years now.

 My favorite car so far was my 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger. I rescued it from a neighbor's field for $100 and started piecing it back together. I replaced the old California emissions 318 with a freshly rebuilt (that was a fun project) 318 Magnum roller engine with a Carter AFB 4-barrel. I installed headers with glass pack mufflers that bolted direct to the headers. The car itself looked terrible, but it ran and sounded awesome. I had the most fun at the track with that car. One day on the way home from work the radiator blew out. I pulled the motor & transmission but junked the body. I still have the drivetrain, maybe someday I'll find something to put it in.

FRL: So, with an automotive background like yours, why the appeal of Forza 4?

Ethan: More than anything it is because money is no object. Playing with the real thing is expensive. In Forza you can do and play with a lot of different and very cool cars without breaking the bank. And then there is the FRL. My brother and I have dreamed of having an online race league for awhile now and seeing it come together as it has this season really endears me to Forza 4.

FRL: Last question then, how do you think season 3 is going?

Ethan: I think its going quite well actually. This is the first season that Maestri Bros. Racing has been able to really collaborate to develop a truly competitive race garage. Paul worked tirelessly to identify possible cars to use. Time tuning and on the track has really benefited us both. The results of which are really showing on the track. Neither of us has placed outside the top three yet and that's an accomplishment for us as a team.

 Andrew Steppat with ASR is still the dominant driver in the FRL, but I think the days of him driving over the horizon and leaving the rest of us in his dust are numbered. This season is close now, and I think it will finish close in several places. Tony with GRR is stepping up his game, Brandon Adkins is committed to getting at least a fourth place finish in the points and we have an awesome set of rookies this year that make all us veterans all little nervous about our places on the track. It is exciting and I look forward to every race this season with more excitement than any of the previous seasons.


Check back next week as we interview driver Tony Tyree of Geekly Retrospect Racing.

Announcement: Rule Changes for FRL Events

 So after a few races and replay reviews, a panel of five drivers has been asked to weigh-in on the subject of implementing race simulation damage and eliminating the reverse lobby points starting grid.

 By a vote of 4-to-1 it has been decided to turn on race damage in FRL races. What this means is that everything that can damage external and internal parts of your car are now active. Downshift too soon and over-rev the motor and it will damage it. If you run into a wall or another player, you will accumulate damage as well as others you make contact with. This makes it vital to race cleanly and work to develop driving skill. Accidents will happen, and unfortunately this may even affect the outcome of the points race. But, to bounce around off each other without consequence really takes the skill out of racing. Hopefully everyone will keep this in mind when getting on the track and endeavor to race as carefully and cleanly as possible.

 If someone is found to be consistently causing problems or even intentionally wrecking others, they may be docked points. In extreme cases, may even be banned from participation in FRL events.

 By a vote of 3-to-2 it has been decided to eliminate the practice of reverse lobby points determining the starting grid. This means that at the beginning of each race, the fastest drivers will start at the front of the field instead of racing from the back. This will reward all that advance their times on the hot lap leaderboard. All drivers will make a parade lap before heat races begin in order to set the starting grid for the first Lotus heat race (finishing order of the parade lap will be determined by the Lotus leaderboard of that track). After the first heat, lobby points will set the starting grid from fastest to slowest.

 These rule changes will go into effect beginning with this weeks race at Nurburgring Grand Prix.

Leaderboard Update - Nurburgring Grand Prix - 8/19/13

The natural balance of order has been re-established and Andrew is once more top of the sizable heap.

Lotus A-Class 
Andrew   - 1:33.985
Ethan       - 1:35.429
Paul         - 1:36.418
Tony        - 1:38.777
Brandon   - 1:40.564
Gabe        - 1:41.348
Carter       - 1:44.327
Ricky        - 1:46.812
Jordan       - 1:48.636

AWD - S-Class
Andrew   - 1:29.430
Ethan       - 1:29.456
Paul         - 1:30.127
Tony        - 1:33.217
Carter      - 1:34.461
Gabe        - 1:36.941
Brandon   - 1:39.143
Ricky       - 1:41.227
Ross        - 1:41.982
Jordan     - 1:44.007

Paul Maestri - FRL Driver

We are into the first bye-week in the FRL season and everyone is busy gearing up for the Nurburgring Grand Prix. So, with a little break in the racing action, we are going to bring you the second interview in our series that lets you get to know the drivers in the FRL a little better. This week Paul Maestri of Maestri Bros. Racing takes a few minutes to chat with us about his background and racing the the FRL.

FRL: Joining us today is last season's runner-up Paul Maestri. Thanks for chatting with us today. I guess the first question is where are you from?

Paul: Born in Oklahoma, raised in Arkansas, probably going to die in Georgia 

FRL: What are your interests outside of Forza racing?

Paul: Videography, art, movies, & avoiding manual labor

FRL: What is your automotive background?

Paul: Well I've always liked cars and trucks. Spent most of my time drawing them instead of learning how they worked though. My first car was an 80's Dodge Lancer . Pretty sure the turbo never functioned but it was still a pretty good first car. After that, 92 Honda Accord, 96 Nissan Altima, 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 94 Mazda MX-6, 94 Ford Bronco, 2004 Jeep Wrangler, 2006 Subaru WRX STi, 2008 Mini Cooper S, and currently driving the 2013 Scion FR-S. I think that's all of the cars I've owned. 

FRL: What is your favorite aspect of Forza 4?

Paul: Comparing cars for use in events. I like that each car, just like in real life, has advantages or disadvantages when placed on different tracks. So finding one that not only performs well but also suites your driving style and is fun to drive, that can be a challenge. I've spent a lot of time and credits testing for MBR. That testing lead to finding our Trans Am last year as well as the Evo this year.

The main reason though is the paint and decal setup. If Gran Turismo 6 gets this option, you may not see me in Forza 5 for a while. 

FRL: What are your thoughts on the current season and how it is progressing?

Paul: Go 3rd or go home. Feels like that should be on my car somewhere. I'm liking the turnout we are getting for the events. It looks a lot better in the photos and video highlights. And it's nice to see all the guys putting time into testing and tuning for events. It makes the races interesting. Now if we can just work on our turn 1 disasters the races will be a lot tighter. 

 Tune in next week as we interview another MBR driver, Ethan Maestri.

Leaderboard Update - Nurburgring Grand Prix 8/12/13

 The SRT Viper team wins its first ALMS race at Road America, I picked Colin Kaepernick for QB of my fantasy football team, its a crazy messed-up world were anything can happen. For instance, someone not named Andrew Steppat takes the top spot in Monday's leaderboard update for Nurburgring Grand Prix - Short in two weeks.

Lotus A-Class
Andrew - 1:35.075
Ethan    - 1:36.031
Brandon- 1:40.564
Paul      - 1:41.287
Gabriel  - 1:42.763
Carter   - 1:44.327
Ricky    - 1:46.153
Jordan   - 1:48.636
Ross      - 1:51.244


AWD S-Class Outlaws 
Ethan     - 1:30.307
Andrew - 1:31.037
Paul       - 1:33.765
Tony      - 1:35.095
Gabriel   - 1:37.328
Carter    - 1:37.461
Brandon - 1:39.143
Ricky     - 1:41.227
Ross      - 1:41.982
Jordan   - 1:44.007

 The Fast boys are moving up the board and mixing it up with some of the FRL's more tenured drivers. Andrew maintains a stranglehold on the top spot in the Lotus A-Class. Ethan posts a lap 0.730 over Steppat in the AWD class. NGP looks to be a short but fast stop on the FRL tour.

FRL 2013 - Mugello (DUKE-WUB-WUB Edition)

Hit the following link for all the WUBWUB racing you can stand.
Update - if you want to see it on a mobile device click this one.

Forzday Recap - Mugello 8/8/13

AIN'T CARE.

The FRL season rolls into the hills north of Rome, Italy for the second race of the series at Mugello Autodromo. The track that coined the term ‘Catastrophe Corner’ would remind everyone why it is one of the toughest Turn 1 tracks in the series circuit. Let’s take a look at how the night shook out.

 Heat One of the Lotus 2-Eleven class would set the tone early for many drivers, including Andrew Steppat, he would be spun hard into the wall before even reaching Turn 1. He emerged from Turn 1 behind a huge melee for position and would have to bide his time picking off targets one-by-one. Meanwhile, MBR drivers Ethan and Paul Maestri  avoided the early furball and would extend a fairly large lead over the field.  Late in the first lap Andrew would spin again while negotiating a pass on Ricky Wilborn Jr. this would effectively take him out of the chase for the lead and he would finish 3^rd. Ethan would finish first and Paul close behind in second.

 Heat Two would begin with a massive incident in ‘Catastrophe Corner’ and the big loser here would be Andrew again, caught in the middle of the pile. Ethan would make an early pass for the lead and set about trying to maintain the top spot. Andrew would catch him, but could not negotiate the pass on a hard charge in the final lap. Ethan would take the first two heats and his first class win for the 2-Eleven’s.

 Andrew would win the third heat soundly. Further afield, there were several good battles amongst drivers Brandon Adkins and Tony Tyree as they traded the 4^th and 5^th positions over all three heats. Ricky Wilborn Jr, Gabriel Fast and Jordan Gullett would be locked in battle for the 6^th through 8^th positions.

 In the AWD S-Class Outlaws the action would get cranked to 11 as there were several intense battles throughout the field. Brandon and Gabriel would run nose-to-tail for most of the three heats. Gabe would take the first heat over Brandon in 6^th place, but Brandon raced him hard in Heats 2 and 3, taking 4^th to Gabe’s 5^th place showing in both. This proved detrimental to Tony Tyree’s campaign for the 4^th position overall as he wound up in the lurch in 6^th place, losing ground to his rival Brandon. Jordan Gullett showed massive improvement throughout the evening, particularly in the AWD’s as his freshly minted Audi TT danced its way into 5^th place in the first heat of the class. Though placing 7^th in the subsequent races, he proved to be more than just a speed bump to the rest of the field.

 The biggest racing of the night was at the front of the field as Andrew Steppat and Ethan Maestri battled hard for the top spot on track and overall in the series. Heat One went to Ethan in the EVO 8. Heat 2 looked early to be a shoe-in for Andrew as Ethan got swept up in an incident with teammate Paul Maestri in Turn 7. However, Ethan would charge back and close in on Andrew in the final lap, though close, he could not make a pass and Andrew took the win. Heat 3 started well for both and the race for the class win was on. Andrew rode out the race in front with Ethan right on his bumper. In the final lap Ethan made a run on Andrew out of Turn 11 and got alongside his Audi. Into Turn 12 side-by-side Ethan would jump on the throttle early but could not get around the Cornhusker, he’d have to lift to keep from washing off the track. A bad setup into the ‘esses’ before Turn 15 would ensure the victory for Steppat Racing.

 As the season moves over the Alps and into Central Europe to the Nurburgring Grand Prix, the points lead goes to Andrew with a 3 point lead over Ethan. Paul sits solidly in third place overall with Brandon Adkins and Tony Tyree rounding out the top 5. The rookies were the big surprise out of Mugello as they diced it up with the veteran’s during all 6 heats. We look forward to the N.G.P. on August 22^nd to see what happens next in this exciting race series. 

Mugello Results

Mugello Autodromo Results
Lotus 2-Eleven
Driver	Position	Fastest Lap	Pos. Points	Lap Points	Total Points		Class Points
Ethan Maestri	1.33	2m03.560	20	13	33		33
Andrew Stteppat	2	2m02.378	16	20	36		36
Paul Maestri	2.66	2m03.440	13	16	29		29
Brandon Adkins	4.33	2m07.702	10	10	20		20
Tony Tyree	4.66	2m08.040	8	8	16		16
Ricky Wilborn Jr.	6	2m11.814	6	6	12		12
Jordan Gullett	7.33	2m20.265	4	3	7		7
Gabriel Fast	7.66	2m15.324	3	4	7		7
Ross Merkling	9	2m28.473	2	2	4		4
AWD Outlaw S-class
Driver	Position	Fastest Lap	Pos. Points	Lap Points	Total Points		Class Points
Andrew Steppat	1.33	1m57.486	20	16	36		36
Ethan Maestri	1.66	1m57.071	16	20	36		36
Paul Maestri	3	1m59.272	13	13	26		26
Brandon Adkins	5	2m03.412	10	10	20		20
Gabriel Fast	5.33	2m03.978	8	8	16		16
Tony Tyree	5.33	2m04.069	6	6	12		12
Jordan Gulllett	7	2m07.916	4	3	7		7
Ricky Wilborn Jr.	7.33	2m06.697	3	4	7		7
Ross Merkling	9	2m18.074	2	2	4		4
FRL Series Leaderboard
Driver:	2-Eleven Points:		AWD Outlaw S-Class		FRL Series Total
Andrew Steppat	76		68		144
Ethan Maestri	65		76		141
Paul Maestri	55		52		104
Brandon Adkins	40		38		78
Tony Tyree	32		28		60
Ricky Wilborn Jr.	24		21		45
Gabriel Fast	13		23		36
Jordan Gullett	9		11		20
Carter Fast	8		7		15
Ross Merkling	8		6		14

Leaderboard Update - Mugello

Here are the latest times:

Lotus A-Class
Andrew- 2:02.272
Ethan    - 2:04.285
Brandon- 2:06.778
Tony      - 2:07.265
Paul       - 2:08.407
Gabe     - 2:18.435
Jordan    -2:19.265
Ross       -2:24.079

AWD S-Class
Andrew- 1:57.723
Ethan    - 1:57.881
Paul      - 1:58.726
Brandon- 2:02.399
Tony      -2:03.323
Gabe      -2:04.404
Jordan    -2:09.932

Lots of movement on the board in the last 24 hours. Looks like there will be some great racing tonight. 9PM Central again.

Andrew Steppat: FRL Driver

 One of the cool things about an online racing league is that we get aquainted with a lot of folks outside our normal social circles. Unfortunately, that means we don't always get to know even some of the most basic information about them. We've got a large field of drivers for the FRL now, so we've embarked on an effort that will hopefully allow us to get to know our fellow drivers better.

 We kick off this series with an interview of two-time FRL Series Champion Andrew Steppat.

FRL: Thanks for sitting down with us for a few minutes Mr. Steppat. I'll get started with the obvious question, where do you hail from?

Andrew: I was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska (Go Huskers!) and still live here 31 years later.

FRL: What's life like for you outside the virtual cockpit of a race car?

Andrew: Hectic, hectic, hectic. I'm married (Shannon) with 2 young kids (Adalyn-4, Marcus-15months) with a 3rd on the way (Austin-due in December). He was an accident haha! So between family, meetings, studying, service, errands, and me and my wife both working full time, day to day life is pretty exhausting. Some days I just want to scream and then 5 minutes later I'll be busting up laughing at my kids or something.

I enjoy playing sports like basketball, volleyball and golf. It just doesn't happen too often anymore. I enjoy weight lifting but kind of go in spurts with that. Why is it so hard to stay motivated haha?

College Football is my favorite sport to watch. I love it when Fall rolls around, the temperature cools down, and we can hang out with our friends and watch Nebraska's defense give up 600 yds of offense. Then I feel like crap! I'll watch some NFL. I don't really have a team that I follow, so I just watch to watch, which is kind of nice. I like College Basketball as well. I've been a big North Carolina fan since I was around 8. I pretty much became a fan of Carolina because I hated the early 90's Duke teams with Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley and I've been hating ever since! So naturally I was drawn to Carolina. So if there are any Duke fans in the FRL, they're getting punted off the track in turn 1 on Mugello!

FRL: What is your automotive background?

Andrew: Personally my automotive history is pretty sad. Growing up my family had several cars, none of them being very exciting. Ford LTD station wagon, Olds 88, '77 Bonneville, Dodge Dart Swinger (not a cool one, more like a Granny one). My dad has owned a '70 Maverick for as long as I can remember. I can remember riding in it one time. But after that it has just sat not running for probably the last 25 years. My dad owned a '67 Firebird when he was younger and sold it for like 300 bucks. To this day he still kicks himself for getting rid of it. He has a big picture of a '67 in his office now. My older sisters had an '80 Chevette and a '78 Corolla. My first car was an '88 Beretta. 0-60 in 16 seconds (no joke). But I still thought it was pretty awesome! My next car was a '98 Grand Prix GTP. Supercharged 3.8L. Definitely had fun with this car. It had decent performance. Right now my cars are the Grand Prix (not running), '05 Corolla and '08 Town and Country. So yeah nothing exciting. I will say the Corolla is amazing. We got it in '06 with 16k miles on it. It now has 95k and not one single thing has gone wrong with it. Nothing. I guess I should clarify. It has amazing reliability. Performance? Not so much.

 So despite my lackluster automotive history, I have always loved cars, trucks, machinery, ever since I've been a little kid. I love all types of vehicles and racing. I love the sound of the low gurgle of a big block at idle and the piercing shriek of an F1 car at full throttle. They both give me goosebumps. If I stumbled upon a couple hundred million dollars, I would be one of those collectors that has several hundred vehicles.

I don't know where to even begin as far as favorite manufacturer or vehicle. There are so many that I like. I do really like just about anything from Lamborghini and Pagani. I think Aston Martin make some of the best looking vehicles. I would say my favorite car right now would be the Aventador Roadster. But I'm definitely looking for to see more of the P1 from McLaren. If I had an imaginary garage with a range of vehicles it would be something like this-

Peterbilt 379

AM General M925 6x6

Lamborghini Aventador Roadster

Pagani Zonda R

McLaren F1

2008 McLaren MP4-23

Mercedes Benz AMG C63

Nissan GTR AMS Alpha-12

Corvette ZR1

Ferrari 458

Ferrari F355 Roadster

Ferrari F50 GT

Kooooeeeennnnnnnenigsegg Agera R

BMW M6

Ariel Atom 500

Aston Martin Vanquish

'69 Chevelle SS

'69 Camaro SS

I better just stop now.

F1 is my favorite form of motorsport. But I like just about any type of racing. Except NASCAR. I just can't get into it.

FRL: What is your favorite aspect of Forza 4?

Andrew: Just trying to better my times on a track are what I enjoy most. I like the challenge of always trying to find more time in every corner. I enjoy experimenting with different lines and gears in turns. I feel very satisfied when everything seems to come together over the entirety of a lap.

FRL: How do you feel about landing the championship for 2 seasons in a row?

Andrew: I feel very good about the 2 championships but understand that I've caught some breaks along the way. We have some good drivers in the FRL and I know each week is going to be difficult. But I'm still hungry as ever. Unfortunately I'm a competitive person. I don't get angry competitive, but when I go into something, I want to win. So I'm dreading when a season comes when I lose.

FRL: What are your thoughts on how this next season is going to go?

Andrew: I think it is going to be very close all season long and probably the most difficult season so far. With a bigger field and a new points system, I think consistency is going to be crucial this season. I would say any missed week will almost certainly eliminate anyone from the championship. So I really hope no one has any connection issues. I hate to see someone lose out on points for something not in their control. My goal is for top 3 finishes in every race to keep my points average up high enough. But with a healthy amount of racers and the inevitable contact with other cars, that is going to be difficult. I'm looking forward to seeing how this season plays out!

 Tune in next week as we interview last seasons runner-up, Paul Maestri