Kurt Ernst, Contributor
Articles
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Cadillac’s U.S. sales were up by 37 percent in October, fueled by gaining momentum on the West Coast and by demand for the all-new XTS and ATS sedans. Now in its third month of sales, the XTS... -
NASCAR AAA Texas 500 Preview: The Chase Heads Back To TexasThree races separate Jimmie Johnson, current Chase for the Championship points leader, from the 2012 title. Brad Keselowski likely has a thing or two to say about that, and he’s just two points behind Johnson in the Chase. While the Texas Motor Speedway is known for its fast speeds...
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Hammond, Richard Hammond Pilots A Lotus Submarine: VideoThe James Bond franchise is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and it seems like everyone wants in on the action. To help mark the occasion, even Top Gear, everyone’s favorite motoring show, has produced a special episode with a Bond theme. It’s a safe bet that classic Bond...
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2013 MINI Countryman PreviewMINI’s first offering with available all-wheel-drive, the Countryman crossover, enters its third year on the market in 2013. That means it’s time for a bit of a refresh, though those expecting significant differences between 2012 and 2013 models will likely be a bit disappointed. New...
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Cadillac Prices Will Rise To Better Align With German RivalsCadillac has a credibility problem. It’s not that the automaker has released bad information, and it’s certainly not due to the impressive products the luxury brand has been cranking out in recent years. Instead, its credibility issue is in regards to pricing. Luxury brands are supposed...
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Snoop Dogg To Pimp Car Care Products With Mister CartoonSnoop Dogg is a busy guy these days. In addition to cranking out new reggae beats under the pseudonym “Snoop Lion,” a name given him by a Rastafarian priest in Jamaica, he’s also just released a electronic compilation called “Loose Joints” under the name DJ...
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Professional racing is in dire straits in the United States these days. Attendance at Indy Car events was sparse this season, a mere fraction of what it was prior to the Champ Car / IRL split. Even... -
Holman & Moody Announces Limited Edition 2014 MustangIn 1964, a British racing team entered three new and unproven Ford Mustangs in a 4,000 mile European endurance race, called the Tour de France Automobile. Built by American tuning specialist and race car builder Holman & Moody, no one gave the Mustangs a chance against the well-proven Jaguar Mk...
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Porsche Type 991-Based 911 GT3 RSR Racer Coming In 2014It’s official: Porsche Motorsport is shuttering its development program for the current type 997 911 GT3 RSR to focus on the creation of a new 911 GT3 RSR, built from the type 991 Porsche 911 that was introduced in 2011. While customer support for the current race cars will continue...
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Supercharged CR-Z Concept Highlights Honda's SEMA LineupWhile we like the basic shape of Honda’s CR-Z “sports hybrid,” its performance never managed to captivate us. Even with the six-speed manual, it’s too sluggish to be amusing, as the car struggles to break the 10-second barrier for the 0-60 mph run. In Eco mode, with the A/C...
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Awesome Ford GT Race Car Conversion Is Street LegalWhile drooling over brochures of the Matech GT1 Ford GT, Ray Hofman, owner of RH Motorsports, had an idea: build a version of the Ford GT that looked like a race car, yet remained street legal and (relatively) comfortable to drive. If such a car appealed to him, Hofman thought, it would likely...
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Chevrolet Performance Introduces New Parts For The CamaroIf you’re a Chevy Camaro fan on a limited budget, chances are good there isn’t a Camaro ZL1 parked in your garage. In fact, you may not even be able to pay the monthly tab on a Camaro SS 1LE, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your existing Camaro go faster, stop shorter...
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Comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham probably wouldn’t have been the first guy to pop into our minds when the task of designing a SEMA concept reared its ugly head. Nonetheless, Dunham is a... -
Acura Shows Its 'Street Build' ILX At SEMAAcura bills its gateway-to-the-brand ILX sedan as the ideal blend of sport and luxury, but our experience with the car tells us it’s lacking in the sport department. Even with the 201-horsepower, 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine (the largest available), the car lacks the kind of thrust we...
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Chevy Joins The B-Spec Fray, Shows Race-Prepped Sonic At SEMAAnnounced in 2011, the B-Spec series (sanctioned by both the SCCA and Grand Am) is arguably the cheapest way to go racing on a professional level. Up to now, the series has starred the Honda Fit, the Ford Fiesta, the Kia Rio, the Fiat 500, the MINI Cooper, the Toyota Yaris and the Mazda2. Now...
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2 Fast 2 Furious Skyline GT-R R34 For Sale On CraigslistAre you a fan of the Fast and the Furious franchise? Do you want to own a piece of movie history, namely the car that Paul Walker “jumped” in the bridge scene from 2 Fast 2 Furious? If you’ve got the $75,000 asking price, this 1999 Nissan GT-R R34 (or GT-R R34 replica, we...
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Top Gear Revisits The Deadly 720 - On A Bike: VideoBack in June, Top Gear announced that it would attempt the world’s first back-to-back loop-the-loop, a stunt it called the “Deadly 720” as part of an upcoming Top Gear Live event. Perhaps indicating how risky the stunt was (or perhaps to build hype around it), a special buggy was...
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Final 2012 Chevy COPO Camaro Is An Auction-Bound ConvertibleAt last year’s SEMA show, Chevy announced that it would build 69 COPO Camaros for the 2012 model year. The number was in honor of the original COPO (short for Central Office Production Order) Camaro, which hit the drag strip in 1969 as a factory-built race car. Like the originals, the new...
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Fiat Shows Off The Magneti Marelli Fiat 500 Abarth At SEMA: VideoLike all cars with a passionate fan base, Fiat’s 500 revival makes a great blank canvas for customization. Even from the show room floor, there are 500 models to satisfy the needs of most buyers, from those concerned primarily with fuel economy (the base 500) to those who spend weekends on an...
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ViewCam 360 Lets You Watch Racing, From Any Angle: VideoWhile some would say that miniature cameras are the best thing to ever happen to televised racing coverage, they generally limit what you can see to a fixed view. With current technology, you may get a feel for what the driver sees when looking straight ahead, but you have no sense of what looking...
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Scion FR-S Tuner Challenge Cars Revealed: VideoLast week we told you about Scion’s FR-S Tuner Car Challenge, which would pit three customizers from around the country in a head-to-head-to-head build of Scion’s FR-S coupe. Each was given a Scion FR-S, $15,000 and ninety days to build a car that will impresses an independent judging...
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McLaren Special Operations Launches New Parts For 12C ModelsIf you’ve been putting off the purchase of McLaren’s MP4-12C or MP4-12C Spider since the cars lack enough personalization for your tastes, we’ve got great news. McLaren’s Special Operations group has just built a 12C befitted with a stunning array of custom accessories, all...
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Kimi Räikkönen Sticking With Lotus In 2013: VideoKimi Räikkönen could be racing’s most attention-deficit-disorder-addled driver, but we mean that in the best possible way. No one can question Räikkönen’s ability to drive a race car, but he has been known to change series the way some drivers change sunglasses...
Kurt Ernst