Ted West
photo by Kathy Fradera
Ted West wrote his first racing story—a duel in the rain between a D Jaguar and a Mercedes-Benz 300SLR—in Seventh Grade. He got an A. But it wasn’t until his senior year in college that Road & Track published his first two professional stories. He covered the Can-Am at its height for Sports Car Graphic, before Road & Track sent him to Europe to cover the Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s, which in 1970 achieved an astonishing 248 mph at Le Mans.
Subsequently, West traveled the world for Road & Track and Car And Driver, covering eight Le Mans and nine Indy 500s. He is the only three-time winner of the International Motor Press Association’s prestigious Ken Purdy Award, all three awards for racing stories. More recently, he published Closing Speed, a racing novel set in the days of the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512. The story follows the racers from Brands Hatch to Monza, the Targa Florio to chilling Spa-Francorchamps, with a stop at the greatest Monaco G.P. of all.
Today, West writes regularly for Car And Driver, Vintage Motorsport, Bimmer, Excellence and other automotive magazines. He lives in Westchester County. New York.
Ted's Books
Jaguar XJR7: Stance & Speed Monograph No. 2