AUTOMOTIVE JOURNALIST TED WEST’S DEBUT NOVEL:

CLOSING SPEED

 

     It was the fastest, most competitive European endurance-racing season ever—Ferrari, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Matra—all battling wheel to wheel for the 1970 World Manufacturer’s Championship, and young American journalist Nick Thorne was there to cover it...

     But when one spring afternoon he sprinted across a rain-slick German test track to rescue the World Champion from a fiery wreck, he was thrust into racing’s red-hot center. Suddenly on intimate terms with the drivers, their wives and lovers, the secrets he came upon were vastly more than he bargained for, as race by race the championship rose to its desperate climax.

     From England’s rain-drenched Brands Hatch to sunny Monza in Italy, Sicily’s gritty Targa Florio to glamorous Monaco and the horrifying speeds of Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps, Nick learned to trust only one truth—In the violence of all-out competition, there are no innocent bystanders.

 

About the author

Ted West wrote his first racing story—a duel in the rain between a D Jaguar and a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR—in Seventh Grade. He got an A.Road & Track published his first two professional stories before he graduated from college. In 1970, Road & Track sent him to Europe for three months to cover the World Manufacturer’s Championship wars between the immortal Ferrari 512 and Porsche 917. Traveling from England to Italy, Sicily, Belgium, Germany and France, he made personal friends of the drivers and team personnel. Closing Speed is West’s first novel and is a fictionalized account of that historic championship. Ted West lives in Westchester County, New York.

 

Closing Speed

A novel by Ted West

335 Pages/ ISBN: 978-0-9789563-4-9

Price: $29.95 USD

 

 

$29.95

"It seems like I've known Ted West forever.  He was a dedicated member of the racing press for as long as I can remember and our paths ran together for many years.  He's a very intelligent, honest guy who worked hard to earn the respect he gets.  I'm sure the car enthusiast world will now enjoy and appreciate his fiction."

                             Mario Andretti, racing legend

 

“In this exciting, fast-paced first novel, Ted displays a deep knowledge of racing drivers and cars, plus of course the lovely women who follow their chosen sport – and its men.”

                             Brian Redman, factory Porsche 917 racing driver

 

“It’s a fun read from an eyewitness to one of the greatest sports car racing seasons ever…Porsche 917 versus Ferrari 512… and here’s a chance to relive the season through a story of bravery, ego, high speed and romance.”

                            John Lamm, award-winning veteran motor sports journalist