Kurt Ernst, Contributor
Articles
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If you want to see all the latest creations from the world’s automakers in one place, the Concept Lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is where you want to be.
This year’s... -
Toyota Racing Announces The Dream Build Challenge: VideoIf you’re a fan of Toyota Racing in NASCAR or NHRA competition, you may want to pay attention to the latest promotional event from Toyota's motorsport division. Called the “Dream Build Challenge,” it pits four of Toyota Racing’s star drivers (and four shops) against each...
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IndyCar Keeps Push-To-Pass, Kills Delay For Baltimore RaceIf you’ve been watching the 2102 Izod IndyCar Series, you know the last three or four races haven’t been the most entertaining in series history. Push-to-pass, the feature that gives drivers a temporary increase in boost and engine speed, was reinstated at July’s Honda Indy...
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Road Testament On The Evolution Of The BMW M5 And M6: VideoBMW’s M cars, like many of us who’ve been around for decades, have packed on a few pounds over the years. While the original E28 M5 sedan tipped the scales at a svelte 3,417 pounds, the latest F10 M5 weighs in at 4,288 pounds, and that’s a lot of bratwurst to haul around...
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Red Bull Racing Vacations In New Jersey: VideoIf you believe Red Bull Racing, Formula One will come to the streets of Weehawken, New Jersey, in June of 2013. If you believe Bernie Ecclestone, there won’t be a race in the shadow of New York City until 2014, as the proposed street course needs a considerable amount of development before F1...
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Racing At The Heart Of Corvette Chassis DevelopmentThough it’s hard to imagine today, the Chevrolet Corvette didn’t begin life as a high-performance sports car. Instead, early models went intended to be “sporty” convertibles, fitted with the “Blue Flame” in-line six-cylinder engine and a live rear axle. A V-8...
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The next Mercedes-Benz S-Class will represent a significant evolution of Mercedes’ flagship sedan. Due in 2013 as a 2014 model, it’s going a bit further upscale to (hopefully) fill the... -
Tony Stewart Drives... A Tank? VideoIn 2011, NASCAR star Tony Stewart and former Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton swapped rides at Watkins Glen as a promotion for Mobil 1 synthetic oil (which sponsors both drivers). For 2012, Mobil 1 decided to mix things up a bit and ask fans of Tony Stewart what he should drive next. The...
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Dr. Phil's 1957 Chevy Bel Air Stolen In CaliforniaDr. Phil, daytime television’s favorite wisdom-dispensing psychologist, is also a car guy. Comforting the grief-stricken and emotionally challenged on television pays well enough to afford a choice of rides according to The Daily Mail, including a Ferrari 360, a Gemballa-tuned Porsche and...
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Traveling For Labor Day? Check The National Speed Trap Exchange FirstFor those who spend a disproportionate amount of time driving cars, speed traps are an ever-present danger to driver’s licenses and insurance rates. No matter how much you invest in technology to warn you of speed enforcement, it seems that law enforcement is always one step ahead of you...
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Porsche Copies Nissan's Playbook, Adds Rev-Matched DownshiftingThere is a simple joy in a properly rev-matched manual gearbox downshift that’s near impossible to describe. For a brief moment in time, years of practice blend muscle memory, mechanical motion and precision timing to yield perfect harmony between man and machine. Some manual-transmission...
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1972 Corvette Shows Us How Burnouts Are Done: VideoCorvettes at Carlisle wouldn’t be complete without the annual tire-shredding burnout contest smoke-athon. This year’s event was no exception to the rule, and the top honors went to John Marshall and his “mildly modified” 1972 Corvette. By “mildly modified,” we...
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Let’s face it: there are more cars and drivers on the road than at any other time in U.S. history, and the sheer pace of modern life ensures that many behind the wheel are sleep deprived,... -
Jay Leno's 2012 Fiat 500 Sells For $350k At Charity AuctionWhen you’re Jay Leno, taking delivery of the first or second customer car in country is generally as easy as picking up the phone and saying, “I’ll need one of those for my collection, as close to the first production model as possible.” Such was the case with The Tonight...
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Mercedes-Benz's Alabama Plant To Produce SUV Kits For Asian MarketsThe Mercedes-Benz M-Class and GL-Class SUVs have always been built in a single plant located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. That’s about to change, as final assembly of Asian-market M and GL-Class vehicles will soon shift to plants in India, Thailand and Indonesia. That doesn’t mean that the...
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FIA Licenses Commercial Rights To Formula E SeriesIf you still think that electric automobile racing is the stuff of science fiction, think again: the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has granted the commercial rights to the Formula E series to Formula E Holdings. That means the proposed 2014 debut of the series is...
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Volkswagen Group Scores Best Total Quality In Latest Strategic Vision SurveyLead by the top-scoring Audi A8 Sedan, the Volkswagen Group has taken top honors in the latest Strategic Vision Total Quality Index (TQI) survey. TQI seeks to measure how closely the experience of quality matches a customer’s desire for quality, factoring in numerous variables (such as...
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Jay Leno Looks At Lamborghini's Latest Concepts: VideoNext year marks the 50th anniversary of Italian supercar builder Lamborghini, and the occasion will be honored with events worldwide, including a grand tour of Italy. Proving that the iconic automaker has a long life ahead of it, Jay Leno spent some time viewing Lamborghini’s latest concepts...
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Last week we brought you the incredible story of a historically significant racing Corvette, believed lost to history but then found in storage in St. Petersburg, Florida. As one of three Corvettes... -
Ferrari SP Arya is the next Special Projects car from MaranelloLike most of us, Cheerag Arya collects things as a hobby. While we focus on more attainable pursuits like 1:18 scale car models, single-purpose automotive tools or used beer coasters, Arya finds himself in the enviable position of collecting actual Ferraris. He can trace his passion for the brand...
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Cadillac Documents 110 Years Of Luxury With $395 Coffee Table BookIf you have a hard-to-shop-for loved one who’s enamored with Cadillac, here’s a great idea for a birthday, anniversary, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa or Festivus gift: a $395 limited-edition, hand-numbered, emblem-festooned coffee table book documenting the 110-year history of General...
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GreenGT to run hydrogen fuel cell car at Le Mans in 2013When the cars take to the Circuit de la Sarthe for the 2013 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the vehicle occupying the 56th pit box will be like no other in the history of endurance racing. Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, the electric-motor-driven GreenGT H2 will be capable of reaching speeds...
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2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup Pace Car Going To Lucky FanNext year, Ford will debut the 2013 Fusion in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition, and for the first time in years we’ll see a car that differs from others on track by more than just graphics. While still not “stock” in the old-school sense of the word, the new Fusion race car carries...
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Did Bernie Ecclestone Get Married (Again)?The definition of insanity, the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. To this point, Formula One czar Bernie Ecclestone has made two previous trips down the aisle, with the last one costing him dearly. His divorce from former wife and fashion...
Kurt Ernst