Kurt Ernst, Contributor
Articles
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What do you get when you cross the engine and mechanicals of a Dodge Viper with a hand-built carbon fiber body designed by Zagato? The answer, oddly enough, is a car with an Alfa Romeo badge on its...
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Nevada Considers Its Own 85 MPH Speed LimitIf you’ve ever driven across Nevada, you know this as fact: outside of cities like Las Vegas, Reno, Sparks and Carson City, the state isn’t exactly overcrowded. In fact, there are vast stretches of open road, where it’s still possible to drive for long periods of time without even...
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Go Paintballing With The Audi RS 4: VideoTo highlight the handling prowess of its not-for-U.S.-sale RS4 Avant, Audi opted to stage and film a paintball war in an abandoned U.K. Ministry of Defense aircraft hangar. The cars were left in stock form (aside from the paintball guns and paint slick dispensers), but the tires were overinflated...
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FBI-Crashed Ferrari F50 For Sale On EbayIn 2003, a Ferrari F50, one of just 50 imported into the United States, was stolen from a dealership in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. In 2009, long after the long after the insurance company had paid the dealership for the theft, the car was recovered in an unrelated FBI sting operation. The training...
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Inside Koenigsegg’s 1,140 Horsepower V-8 Engine: VideoBuilding a low-volume supercar is a daunting, time-consuming and expensive process, which is why manufacturers often look to outside vendors to supply the engine. Pagani, for example, has a long-standing relationship with AMG, and even McLaren turned to BMW for the 6.1-liter V-12 used in the...
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Mercedes-Benz Tells The History Of The F1 Safety Car: VideoIn racing, a safety car is used to collect the race cars on the track following a yellow flag condition, generally for an accident, debris or rain. While the safety car laps the track at a much slower speed than the cars being raced, it must still maintain a brisk enough pace to keep tires warm and...
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If you drive to and from your place of employment, you’ve probably noticed that the roads are getting more and more crowded with each passing year, while drivers are getting less and less...
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SL65 AMG-Based Brabus 800 Roadster To Debut In GenevaThe Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG, in stock form, pumps out some 621 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque from its twin-turbo, 6.0-liter V-12 engine. Before you add a single option, the car prices at nearly $214,500, including destination fee and gas-guzzler tax. If those numbers aren’t...
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Cadillac Building XTS Sedans In China - For The Chinese MarketChina is the world’s largest market for automotive sales, and General Motors’ [NYSE:GM] luxury brand, Cadillac, is a well-established player in the Chinese market. Cadillac’s Chinese dealer network now includes some 150 stores, which is roughly twice as many as the brand had in...
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Tesla's Elon Musk Puts The Cost Of Bad Press At $100 Million: VideoThe strange and curious case of The New York Times versus Tesla just won’t seem to go away. What was supposed to be a tech piece on Tesla’s new Supercharger fast-charging stations, written by N.Y. Times reporter John Broder, turned into fuel for the range-anxiety bonfire when the...
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Abarth To Show Four New "Fuori Serie" Creations In GenevaFiat, like MINI, knows that that buyers of its 500 Abarth models want to personalize their rides. Unlike MINI, which specializes in primarily cosmetic changes, Abarth has launched a program that gives customers an even broader-scope upgrade and customization path. Introduced at last...
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Hennessey Performance To Build A 1,000 Horsepower Corvette StingrayThe 2014 Corvette Stingray won’t begin shipping to dealerships until the third quarter of 2013, but those planning a purchase can already put together a holiday wish list, thanks to Hennessey Performance Engineering. While the C7 Corvette Stingray will come to market with 450 horsepower and...
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It’s no secret that BMW is working on a new M3 sedan, as well as a new M4 coupe and convertible. We’ve shown you spy shots and spy video of various cars in testing, but the market... -
Next Dodge Viper ACR Could Land In 2014: ReportThe last Dodge Viper ACR (for American Club Racing) rolled off the assembly line in 2010, boasting the same 600 horsepower and 560 pound-feet of torque from its V-10 engine as standard Viper models. Weight on ACR models was reduced by up to 90 pounds by gutting the interior, while the suspension...
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Cadillac ELR Hints At the Future Of Cadillac Interior Design: VideoThe upcoming Cadillac ELR extended-range electric coupe will be a halo car in more ways than one for GM’s premium brand. Its primary mission is to carry the Voltec powertrain torch into an entirely new segment than the existing Chevrolet Volt, but doing so requires a new level of interior...
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Jimmie Johnson Earns Second Daytona 500 WinHeading into this year’s Daytona 500, many thought “the big one” was inevitable. When a last lap crash during Saturday’s Nationwide Series race hurled debris from Kyle Larson’s wrecked car into the stands, injuring numerous spectators, many saw it as a potential...
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NASCAR Daytona 500 Preview: Can Danica Go The Distance?When the green flag flies for the start of Sunday’s Daytona 500, Danica Patrick will earn the distinction of being the first woman driver to lead a Sprint Cup field into the first corner. Given her limited success in NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series racing to date, the question...
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Hyundai Delivers Its First Special Edition Veloster RE:MIXLast October, Hyundai rolled out the production version of its Veloster RE:MIX at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Embracing the RE:MIX ethos of “individual creativity, passion and connectivity,” the limited-edition Veloster was rumored to be hitting dealers before the end of 2012...
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While the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is best known for its superb selection of historically significant and interesting automobiles (and its perpetually idyllic weather), Bill Warner and... -
Bertone To Show Four-Door Coupe Concept In GenevaAt last year’s Geneva Motor Show, design house Bertone stunned the crowds with its futuristic Nuccio concept, named for legendary automotive designer Guiseppe “Nuccio” Bertone. Billed as an “extreme” mid-engined berlinetta sports car, its radical lines and...
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Alfa Romeo Celebrates 50 Years Of Its Autodelta Motorsport DivisionIn March of 1963, Alfa Romeo brought a company called Auto-Delta, founded by former company engineer Carlo Chiti and Alfa dealer Ludovico Chizzola in 1961, under its corporate wing. The name was eventually changed to Autodelta SpA, but its mission remained: as the official competition department of...
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Fisker And Its Insurer End Lawsuit Over Superstorm Sandy-Damaged KarmasWhen Superstorm Sandy blew through the Northeast last October, its swath of destruction included some 250,000 cars, among them the 338 Fisker Karma sedans that were parked in a holding facility at Port Newark and awaiting delivery to dealers. From Fisker’s perspective, the loss was a minor...
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The U.S. Postal Service Offers 'Muscle Cars Forever'If you’re a fan of muscle cars, with straight 40-weight in his veins and more horsepower in his garage than most villages in Europe, chances are good you don’t spend a lot of time hanging around the Post Office, waiting for the release of a new series of stamps. In fact, based on its...
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Chris Harris Drives The 2014 Porsche Cayman S: VideoPorsche has redesigned its mid-engine Cayman and Cayman S coupes for the 2014 model year, and, like the related Boxster and Boxster S, the new cars are better in every regard than the models they replace. Not only are the 2014 Cayman models faster than their 2013 equivalents, they’re more...
Kurt Ernst