Katherine T. Burrows

The Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 Is the 654-HP, 2174-Pound Successor to the F1

By Katherine T. Burrows 4 hours ago

From Road & Track

Gordon Murray holds weekly weight-watchers meetings. He’s not helping people diet, of course. He’s making absolutely certain his new supercar is lighter than his last. Murray takes about six hours every week to meet with his teams and analyze the car’s every component down to the fasteners. “They’re fun,” he says of these sessions. “Well, they’re not fun if you’re one of the designers and your bit’s heavier than the target, but I enjoy them.”

This story originally appeared in the September 2020 issue of Road & Track.

Why so fastidious? Murray’s new car, the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50, is the successor to the sublime McLaren F1. One can’t follow that car without obsessing over every detail.

Even 28 years after its debut, the F1 is still the supercar benchmark. Its driver sits on the centerline of the carbon- fiber monocoque. It weighs only

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BMW plunges to second-quarter EBIT loss as coronavirus pandemic hits car sales

By Katherine T. Burrows 1 day ago

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – BMW on Wednesday said it expected to post an operating profit for the full year despite coronavirus lockdowns pushing the carmaker to a second-quarter operating loss as deliveries of luxury cars fell by 25% during the period.

The Munich-based carmaker said it swung to a 666 million euro ($786 million) loss before interest and taxes in the quarter ending in June, down from a 2.2 billion euro operating profit in the year-earlier quarter.

The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin in the company’s automotive segment was pushed to a negative 10.4% in the quarter, slumping from 6.5% in the second quarter last year, as BMW ramped up expensive electric car technology investments.

Car sales have begun to recover in some markets, including in China, leading BMW to expect its core business to return a profit, but the rebound will not be enough to make up the

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Epic Tale Of A Rare 1969 Dodge Super Bee Finally Back Home After 24 Years

By Katherine T. Burrows 3 days ago

In 1977, when Edgar Anderson was just eight years old, his father – also named Edgar – purchased a 1969 Dodge Super Bee that was located in Jamestown, New York, for just $750. Edgar lived in Chicago with his mother, and his father did not live close so he would visit him whenever he could. Eager to pay a visit to his dad, Edgar and his aunt Dana were scooped up in a B5 Blue 1970 Plymouth Satellite driven by Levi, his father’s best friend. One thing Edgar recalls from that ride to his father’s house is that the speedometer needle mainly sat at nearly 100 miles per hour for almost the trip’s entirety.

Once they arrived at his father’s home, the Super Bee was up in the air in the garage as his dad wrenched away under the car. Edgar fondly remembers his dad asking him to hand over … Read More

Buying a Car That Comes from Canada Sounds Fun, Until There’s a Recall

By Katherine T. Burrows 4 days ago

From Car and Driver

  • Local TV station KEYT in California helped the owner of a Mercedes C63 AMG S, which originated in Canada, get needed recall work done.
  • At first, the owner was told the dealer wouldn’t touch the recall work, since the car has a Canadian VIN, and that he should take it to Canada for service.
  • The Mercedes dealer did update the car’s software in the end, but this dilemma points out that gray-market vehicles can cause their owners some red tape.

Importing a car means bringing roughly equal amounts of excitement and challenge across the border. When the car in question is a Canadian 2015 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG S, or any other car that originated in Canada and is being brought into the United States, it might come with enough automotive cooties that your local dealer may be hesitant to work on it.

That’s what happened

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