Four-by-four Driving: Off-roader Driving(1st Edition) - Hardcover

Sheppard, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0953232433 ISBN 13: 9780953232437

Publisher: Desert Winds Publishing, 2006

Synopsis

"Four-By-Four Driving" is an all-new book - now well-established - based around the sell-out editions of "Off-Roader Driving" and "The Land Rover Experience". The new title reflects a slight change in target readership to include the 'busy mum' 'soft-roader' drivers and those needing advice on what to look for when buying a 4X4. It addresses the often unnecessary bells and whistles with which they are equipped, the obfuscating brand naming and plethora of TLAs (three letter acronyms).There is clarification of the multiplicity of 4X4 systems -'...the most important Section in the whole book...' - even for those who never go off road. The book pulls no punches in its examination of current design foibles, poor ergonomics, technophobic journalists, marketing, and sales people.It includes a uniquely incisive and straightforward analysis of the dynamics of trailer towing - a role for which many 4X4s are purchased.A large proportion of the book is devoted to a step-by-step look at all aspects of using a 4X4 off-road - safely and non-damagingly. For novices, it takes the mystique out of off-roading not only with its content and diagram but with its comprehensive glossary. For professionals it offers valuable techniques and rarely seen advice. The book has been selected by Land Rover for The Land Rover Experience driving school in the UK and the US.Recent bulk purchasers include a US distributor and the Royal Geographical Society.It has an Expedition Basics section with invaluable information on tyres, fuels, oils, loading and water filtration.

About this title

About the Author

During TOM SHEPPARD'S career in the Royal Air Force as a pilot and test pilot he planned, led and trained teams for numerous expeditions and operations - among them the first coast-to-coast crossing of the Sahara through the Mauritanian Empty Quarter for which he received the Royal Geographical Society's Ness Award. He has now totalled well over 100,000 overland miles on four and two wheels and has been a 4X4 owner for over 30 years. Between expeditions, he has worked for British Aerospace and been 4X4 consultant to a major international manufacturer. On this, the logistics and planning of expeditions he admits he is unlikely to ever stop learning.

From the Back Cover

BACK COVER:

Press comment on Tom Sheppard's earlier books on operation of four wheel
drive vehicles, The Land Rover Experience Editions 1 and 2:

From the Inside Flap

This book is about 4x4s: selecting them and driving them, not
just about off-road driving - though there's quite a bit of that, plus
something on expeditions to kindle the embers of all who buy such vehicles.
Four-by-fours are a lot more car-driver friendly now, with all their TLAs -
Three Letter Acronyms(tm) - than they were even five years ago but there
are still things you need to know and there are still the basic 4x4s out
there that need to be loved and understood.
Most of it revolves around knowing the common-sense basics to which our
technophobic media and dealership networks refuse to apply their minds.
It's also about mechanical sympathy - for the vehicle and for the ground
you are travelling over. Very easy when you know what's going on.
Appreciating limitations in yourself and your machine yields perspective,
confidence and good driving.
The principles and skills in that hallowed process have not changed and the
same applies to off-road driving. So when this book is old and yellowed
with age its basic message will still be valid. The chapter on towing,
oscillations and the like, at last dispels the mystique.
No apology is offered for the finger-pointing on cockpit ergonomics and
scrutiny of the 'new' 4x4 concepts that regularly re-invent the wheel under
fancy names. The Emperor's New clothes are always in fashion. The 4x4 genre
gets wider and ever more inclusive. Learn the differences. Learn the
techniques. Treat your vehicle and the environment well; enjoy yourself!

Edition details

• Publisher: Desert Winds Publishing
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0953232433
• ISBN 13: 9780953232437
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 216