Kurt Ernst, Contributor

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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

  • Bugatti’s ultra-luxury Galibier sedan concept was first shown to the public in the fall of 2009. Initial customer feedback was somewhat underwhelming, and potential buyers criticized the car as...
  • At Mid-Year, U.S. Is Again Bentley's Biggest Market

    For years, the United States was the largest market for Bentley automobiles in the world. That changed in the first quarter of 2012, as sales in China surpassed sales in the United States. This was despite a 40-percent growth in U.S. sales, too, which saw total volume reach 450 units in the first...

  • SLS AMG E-Cell To Tackle Silvretta E-Car Rally

    Generally speaking, rally events exist to test the capabilities of both car and driver, often among the most grueling conditions imaginable. Like biological evolution on an accelerated scale, rally racing improves the breed, starting with race cars and trickling down into production cars. The same...

  • Classic Recreations Goes Topless With Its G.T. 500CR Convertible

    When it comes to exclusivity, plenty of cars can claim to be 1 of 500, or even 1 of 100. Drop below triple digits, and a car’s value can climb exponentially, which explains the popularity of continuation cars like Classic Recreations’ version of the 1967 Shelby G.T. 500 Fastback...

  • Brumos To Build Limited Edition Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Race Car

    When it comes to racing Porsches in North America, the name Brumos is the stuff of legend. The Jacksonville, Florida dealership has been building winning Porsche race cars for the better part of five decades, and it’s now working with Porsche Motorsport North America to offer a special...

  • Gordon Ramsay tours Ferrari's Maranello home

    When Gordon Ramsay isn’t berating lesser chefs into submission, adding another Michelin star to his name or cashing large, television-related checks, the celebrity chef with anger-management issues has a passion for Ferrari automobiles. Despite being a long-time Ferrari owner, Ramsay had...

  • Jaguar’s upcoming F-Type roadster is the marque’s first attempt at building a no-compromise sports car in over 50 years. To call the car significant is an understatement, as it has the...

  • Rare 1969 Boss 429 Mustang For Sale - In Sweden

    When it comes to muscle cars, one of the rarest and most desirable is the Ford Mustang Boss 429. Built for just two years (1969 and 1970), Wikipedia says that total production numbered just 1,356 units. Built for homologation purposes, so that Ford could use the 429 cubic-inch V-8 in its NASCAR...

  • Chris Harris Compares The Shelby GT500 And The Camaro ZL1: Video

    When it comes to videos featuring Chris Harris, we’re used to seeing him drive the latest European exotics though scenic Alpine passes. It’s a contrast, then, to see him driving the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 and the 2012 Chevy Camaro ZL1 through the concrete and steel canyons of New York...

  • Update: Maria De Villota Loses An Eye In F1 Testing Crash

    On Tuesday we brought you the news that Marussia F1 test driver Maria De Villota had been critically injured in a testing crash at Britain’s Duxford Airfield. After completing a shakedown lap, De Villota was slowing to enter the pits when the car suddenly accelerated, striking the rear lift...

  • Despite Signs Of A Slowing Economy, June Luxury Sales Remain Strong

    June was a good month to be in luxury car sales, with almost every luxury brand reporting sales growth over June of 2011. There may be bad news on the horizon, however, as unemployment remains high and consumer confidence continues to weaken. In terms of growth over prior year, no luxury auto brand...

  • Renault reveals fourth-gen Clio

    Since the original Renault Clio was launched in 1990, the compact car has racked up sales of some 11.5 million units in 115 countries. It’s won the Car of the Year Award twice (in 1991 and in 2006), and is available in variants to satisfy nearly every type of driver. In fact, the only thing...

  • The idea of stuffing a big motor into a small car is nothing new, and the recipe has been tested by both tuners and manufacturers for decades. Sometimes, as with the original Shelby Cobra, the result...
  • Former F1 Star Damon Hill Nervous Over Proposed 80 MPH Limit

    Damon Hill’s F1 career spanned some eight seasons, enough for the British driver to rack up 42 podium finishes, 22 wins, 20 pole positions and the 1996 F1 Word Championship. As a man who’s made his living by driving cars fast, you’d expect that Hill would have retained something...

  • Car Thieves Go High Tech, Clone NFC Fobs

    It’s every car owner’s worst nightmare: you wake in the morning, grab your keys and head to the parking lot, only to find that your car is no longer there. While new technology such as chipped ignition keys and Near Field Communications (NFC) key fobs have made cars more...

  • Marussia F1 Test Driver Maria De Villota Suffers Serious Crash

    Maria De Villota, a test driver for the Marussia F1 team and the only woman currently driving in Formula 1, has sustained serious injuries in a testing crash at Duxford Airfield in Cambridgeshie, England. According to the Daily Mail, De Villota had just completed a testing lap and had returned to...

  • Terrafugia Flying Car Completes Initial Flight Testing

    With one more milestone in the books, flying car builder Terrafugia is another step closer to launching its Transition model, as shown at April's New York Auto Show. The Terrafugia Transition has just completed the first of six flight test trials, required before the Federal Aviation Administration...

  • 62 Years Of F1 Car Design, Rendered In Under A Minute: Video

    Formula One cars of 2012 have precious little in common with Formula One cars of 1950. Aside from the open wheel and open cockpit designs that form the backbone of the sport, everything from construction materials through engine position and steering wheel design has changed over the past 62 years...

  • Volkswagen is recalling some 13,172 model year 2012 Audi Q5 crossovers, built between June 21, 2011 and December 9, 2011. At issue is a front sunroof glass panel that may not have been manufactured...
  • Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster Coming: Report

    An Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster has been rumored for quite some time. Three years ago, we brought you spy photos of a car believed to be the V12 Vantage Roadster testing at the Nürburgring, and last December we even speculated that the car would debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. It...

  • Double Loop World Record Set At X Games: Video

    Just two weeks after Top Gear thrilled fans at a Top Gear Live show in South Africa by running a specially-built buggy through back-to-back loop-the-loops, Hot Wheels has managed to raise the bar with added spectacle at this weekend’s X Games competition. Instead of using a lightweight buggy...

  • Honda Announces Its Return To The Dakar Rally

    Honda ran a factory-backed motorcycle team in the legendary Paris-Dakar Rally from 1981 thorough 1989. In this nine-year period, Honda won the event five times on three different motorcycles (the XR550, the NXR750 and the NXR800). It’s been 23 years since Honda last ran the event in an...

  • 1973 Chevelle Makes An Unusual Pro Tourer: Video

    There’s absolutely nothing unusual about a Chevy Chevelle built for pro touring, as long as you’re talking about a second generation model, built from 1967 to 1972. In 1973, the Chevelle grew noticeably in length, width and weight, while at the same time new emission standards...

  • Chevrolet Celebrates 60 Years Of Corvettes: Video

    It may seem hard to believe, but the Chevrolet Corvette turns 60 in 2013. Over the car’s six-decade life, it’s been transformed from an underpowered and hastily slapped-together roadster (the original 1953 model) to a world class sports car (most recently, the Corvette ZR1) and...

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