Kurt Ernst, Contributor

Kurt Ernst avatar
Kurt has been fascinated by anything with wheels and a motor for a long time. Growing up, he spent his spare time turning wrenches and pumping gas in the family garage, back when hand tools were used to tune cars. After college, he spent a year racing cars, only to learn that he was neither fast enough to get rich nor rich enough to get fast. These days, he spends his time as an automotive writer and a self proclaimed "Cro-Magnon Renaissance Man".

Articles

  • When NASCAR introduced its “Car of Tomorrow” (COT) during the 2007 Sprint Cup season, it was supposed to make racing more affordable for teams and more entertaining for fans, as the...
  • Porsche Purchases Andial Name

    If you’ve followed Porsche’s racing efforts in North America over the years, chances are good you’ve run across the Andial name. Porsche models prepared by Andial won the 24 Hours of Daytona from 1983-87, and again in 1989. If that’s not impressive enough, the first five...

  • Cadillac Launches Limited Edition, Special Finish CTS Models

    Borrowing a page from BMW, Cadillac is building a limited edition of its CTS-V Coupe, finished in a matte color its calling Silver Frost. Only 100 examples will be built, and Cadillac is already labeling them as “collector editions.” Like BMW’s “Frozen” matte-finish...

  • George Barris' 'Asteroid' Corvette To Make Carlisle Appearance

    The C2 Corvette, introduced for the 1963 model year, was already a radical and futuristic departure from the styling of the previous car. That wasn’t enough for some buyers, who wanted a personalized creation that was even more over-the-top. One such customer was speedboat racer Bob Nordskog...

  • Chevy Talks 2014 Stingray Engineering: Video

    While designing a new version of an existing vehicle is always a complicated process, the 2014 Corvette Stingray takes this to the extreme. Not only is the car’s styling new, but its engineers even began with a blank sheet of paper to create the frame and a portion of its body panels. The...

  • Meteorites, One More Danger For Russian Drivers: Video

    By now, we thought we’d seen every possible type of Russian driving horror from the ever-present dashboard camera footage posted to YouTube. It turns out we were wrong, and there’s nothing in any driver’s education manual we’ve ever seen that prepares you for being hit by a...

  • Audi’s A1 hatchback is a genuine hit for the brand in Europe, though those of us on this side of the Atlantic are deprived of its diminutive goodness. Shortly after the car’s 2010 launch,...
  • Chris Harris On Ice, Driving A Porsche 911: Video

    Ask most people what the ideal car-themed vacation would be, and chances are good they won’t reply with “hustling a rear-drive, 250-horsepower, vintage Porsche 911 around a frozen lake, in Sweden, in the middle of winter.” The Porsche 911 isn’t the first car that comes to...

  • Tesla's Elon Musk Responds To The New York Times

    On Tuesday, we brought you the story of The New York Times, represented by writer John M. Broder, versus electric car maker Tesla. While the entire incident has been documented and replayed across multiple media sites, we can summarize it by saying that the two sides are at odds on the Tesla Model...

  • Lotus F1 Owner Buys Into RUF Automobile

    Genii Capital, owner of the Lotus F1 Team, is branching out its holdings to include a stake in specialist constructor RUF, long known for building over-the-top Porsche-based supercars. Though some would call RUF a tuner, the German government actually considers the firm a manufacturer, with a...

  • Nissan Goes Stock Car Racing, Australian Style: Video

    Though the Australian V8 Supercar Series and our own NASCAR series are radically different forms of racing, the two series share more than a few common elements. Both base racing cars on popular production sedans, both rely on highly-tuned V-8 engines for power and both use a front-engine...

  • Inside Koenigsegg Shows Off Its Brains: Video

    If the engine is the heart of any vehicle, it’s a safe assumption that the multiple control units found in modern automobiles, coupled with system-specific software, are its brains. A few decades back, computers were used only for engine management. Today, computers are at the heart of every...

  • Though the McLaren P1’s official debut will take place at next month’s Geneva Motor Show, McLaren is still showing off its P1 prototype. The car made its Middle East debut in Bahrain last...
  • 1969 Lola T70 Mk III B From 'Le Mans' Heads To Auction

    While the Lola T70 Mark III may not have enjoyed the same success as its contemporaries from Porsche (the 917) and Ford (the GT40), there’s no denying that the T70 was among the most beautiful endurance racers ever penned. Its resemblance to the Ford GT40 is no coincidence, as designer Eric...

  • 2015 Mercedes-Benz E400 To Get Biturbo V-6

    If you’re shopping for a new Mercedes-Benz E-Class today, the most powerful non-AMG variant you can buy is the twin-turbo V-8-powered E550, which comes in coupe, 4Matic sedan and convertible forms. In its current guise, the 4.7-liter E550 puts out 402 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque...

  • Aston Martin Crowdsources The Next Livery For TRG-AMR Vantage GT3

    As we told you last December, Aston Martin Racing (AMR) recently penned a deal with The Racers Group (TRG) to create a new entity, called TRG-AMR. TRG-AMR will campaign Aston Martin race cars, including the Vantage GTE and Vantage GT3, in American Le Mans Series and Rolex Grand-Am competition...

  • Jeep Pondering A Diesel-Powered Wrangler: Report

    Atop the wish list for many Jeep Wrangler owners is one simple request: build our beloved, go-anywhere SUV with a diesel engine option. Not only would a diesel Wrangler offer up greater fuel economy on road, but it would deliver an extended range off-road, too, presenting a win-win scenario for...

  • Rod Millen To Take On Monster Tajima In Pikes Peak Electric Class

    In 2012, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb legend and record-holder Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima announced he’d be switching from the gasoline-powered Unlimited class to take on a new challenge: attempting to set a new record in the race’s Electric class. Though Tajima was...

  • Strip away the 2014 Cadillac ELR’s sculpted coupe body, and underneath beats a heart very similar to the one in the Chevrolet Volt sedan. You would think, then, that launching a comparable car...

  • McLaren Shows Off The Interior Of Its P1 Supercar

    With just three weeks remaining until the P1 supercar has its official debut at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, McLaren is teasing bits and pieces of its construction to keep the car in the public eye. Last week we saw its F1-inspired instrumentation, and this week we’re getting a...

  • Elon Musk Refutes New York Times Tesla Model S Review: Video

    The task for The New York Times' contributor John M. Broder sounded simple enough: to highlight Tesla’s newly-installed Supercharger Stations at Interstate 95 rest stops in Newark, Delaware and Milford, Connecticut, Broder was to drive a Tesla Model S with an 85 kilowatt-hour battery from...

  • Bernie Ecclestone Tries To Dodge U.S. Bribery Lawsuit

    If you’ve followed the Bernie Ecclestone F1 bribery case over the past two years, you know that it has more intrigue than a John le Carré spy novel. In fact, the only thing that’s clear about the case is this: money changed hands that shouldn’t have. In November of 2005, an...

  • BMW Looks To Apple To Improve Customer Service

    If you’re a fan of Apple and its products, chances are good you’ve shopped at an Apple retail store. If you’ve visited an Apple store to look at hardware, or to deal with a technical problem on an Apple product, you’ve probably encountered a product specialist known as an...

  • The 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Visits Jay Leno's Garage: Video

    Now that the Aston Martin One-77 supercar has ended production, the 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish claims the spot atop the brand’s product line. While the new Vanquish, which revives an iconic name from Aston Martin’s past, is a fast and capable car, its purpose isn’t lapping a track...

Follow Us on Instagram @motorauthority

News First Drives Auto Shows Photos Videos Spy Shots