Lamborghinis can be challenging cars even for experienced drivers, let alone amateurs who aren't familiar with how quickly 552 hp can break loose whatever traction the tires have and turn the bull into an unguided missile. The latest toreador to get stabbed by the bull? A Chinese journalist who totaled this new Gallardo 560-4 during a media drive.

Horace Elgin Dodge was just another poor kid born in Niles, Mich., on this day in 1868, but by the time of his death 53 years later, he and his brother John Dodge would be two of America's richest, most successful industrialists.

Inseparable in life and beyond — both are buried in the family's massive crypt in Detroit — the Dodge brothers punched their way into the auto industry, from barroom brawls to deals with Henry Ford and others that made their own company a massive success. As for that badge: No one really knows why the Dodge Brothers chose the sign we call the Star of David, which hadn't yet become a symbol for Jewish nationalism in the early 1900s.

Flickr photo by Joe Shiabotnik

After acquiring a Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari FF and an Aston-Martin One-77 for its overexposed police force, Dubai public safety officials revealed last week that they'd soon snap up the only supercar left out of their set: a Bugatti Veryon, which starts at $1.4 million and goes from there. If only they could find some spare change to hire competent Photoshop artists.

For something that feels so right, things are about to go terribly wrong.

French Canadian rally driver Antoine L’Estage is in damn good spirits right now. The four-time Rally America Champion and four-time Canadian Rally Champion has been catching up to arch rival David Higgins all morning in the Oregon Trail Rally, the perfect terrain for L’Estage to mark his comeback as he claimed the day’s previous two stages. At the very first rally of the 2013 Rally America season, Sno*Drift — held on the frozen tundra of inner Michigan — L’Estage claimed victory. Then the following two he surrendered to current champion Higgins. But today, in this fourth rally of the season, L’Estage is committed to taking the podium above the Brit en route to hopefully capturing his fifth Rally America Championship. Unfortunately for L’Estage, the rally gods have other plans for the plucky Quebecois.

At the four-month mark, our long-term 2013 Dodge Dart Rallye checks in with 6,500 miles on the odometer, a log book filled with plenty of compliments — and some grumblings about the transmission we’ll address in the next update.

On May 16, 1903, George A. Wyman embarked on what would become the first transcontinental crossing of the United States aboard a motor vehicle — a 1902 California bicycle equipped with a 200-cc, four-stroke engine. Wyman left Lotta's Fountain in San Francisco, and after 51 days of riding mostly dirt trails and railroad tracks, repairing his bike (including replacing a broken crankshaft) along the way, he arrived in New York City on July 6. As Robert M. Pirsig noted many years later in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:" "Although motorcycle riding is romantic, motorcycle maintenance is purely classic."

Everyone needs a rival. In case of Ayrton Senna, it was the cool-under fire Alain Prost. The Porsche 911 Turbo continually swaps Nürburgring hot-lap bragging rights with Nissan’s Godzilla GT-R. With racing games, Forza strives to out-simulate Gran Turismo, which has endured for 15 years. And in celebration of that milestone, Polyphony Digital head Kazunori Yamauchi announced that the much-anticipated sixth version is slated for a holiday 2013 release on the PlayStation 3 — a drastic contrast to the development cycle of its predecessor that saw more delays than a Fisker Karma launch.

Doctor, gangster, developer or third-world dictator — the Mercedes-Benz S-Class has been a perennial marker of success in any career, legal or otherwise. And for the all-new 2014 edition, the world's oldest carmaker added every gadget it could think of — and a few that have never been seen on the road before.

Appropriately, Mercedes’ top executives unveiled the 2014 S-Class in the Airbus Operations center in Hamburg, where another jumbo flagship – the Airbus A380 – sees its fuselage and interior come together in a cathedral-sized assembly hall.

The Benz may not match the 262-foot