It’s just a mountain of power and torque - it makes you open your eyes very wide and pay close attention

Here’s a little anecdote for you. A professional Swiss snowboarder sells a snowmobile to an Arab sheikh who likes to transverse sand dunes. He then goes on to convince several other sheikhs and Middle East rulers into buying his little machine. It sounds like an amusing plot more masterly than selling ice to the eskimos. But actually, it’s true.

Urs Eiselin is the champion boarder and former member of the Swiss Olympic snowboard team. The Sand-X he’s riding in front of me, blowing huge rooster tails out of the rear as he rides the top of the Hatta dunes started out life as the Ski-Doo, a popular Canadian-made snowmobile. Right now, as I stand there watching whole kilograms of sand being shifted across the horizon off that long rear track, the Sand-X T-ATV800 (800cc, Tracked All-Terrain Vehicle) is making its two-stroke way towards 8000rpm. The Rotax engine creates a screaming, high-pitched, ear-piercing wail. Urs crests a sand hill, the front wheels become airborne and the rear track follows – a bit like a snowboarder launching off a ramp, actually. He lands with a quick compression and powers his way through another dune, shifting his body weight to one side for balance. Going down a second hill, power overcomes weight and he does a wheelie. At full chat, this 158bhp sand bike will do 0-100kph in less than three seconds. Dull it isn’t. Mad, bonkers, insane – choose whatever word you like. I think ‘anecdotal’ might do the trick.

Ah yes, those gullible sheikhs. The list of VIPs is long enough, but it’s not about who has bought one as much as what they’ve bought into. All have purchased something that rivals a 911 GT2 on the road, and off it, throws dust in the face of the most heavily modified dune-climbing Nissan Patrol. Perhaps they don’t seem so daft after all. More details on the GT2 bit later.

First, it’s worth noting how a snowmobile became a 185kph sand carver. With such an extreme temperature difference between the winter in Canada and December in the Gulf, it’s obvious some things have to be modified. Apart from the obvious wheels instead of skiis, the main part is the engine itself: it’s now designed to deflect heat, instead of contain it. Added to that, to make sure it keeps relatively cool under load, Sand-X Motors has created a custom cooling system that provides added water to make sure temperatures don’t reach critical levels. Perched on top, you don’t feel any heat emanating from it, and Urs says the highest figure you’ll see all day will be 85 degrees.

It may seem like just a small and simple machine, but work on the project started in 2006, when Urs began testing the idea of a hot weather snowmobile in Italy. He flew the prototype to Dubai, tested it for two-and-a-half years until the parts were ready and has since sold 175 of these dune bashers.

The one Urs has brought today is a third generation model. It’s 30kg lighter than the previous one, faster, made of more durable materials, has better cooling and an added digital display in the dash. You could look at it as a sort of Clubsport version. Only it’s a touch more Caterham R500 than BMW 3-Series in delivery. Do the sums, and at around 230kg with fluids, the power-to-weight ratio comes in at a mind-bending 687bhp/ton. No prizes for guessing that spinning that track takes little effort.

Mind you, even if you’re more used to the confines of a comforting shell and four wheels like I am, it feels quite stable. The rubber-Kevlar composite track houses around 160 protrusions – each 32mm-long – that displace sand effectively, and the track itself is wider than a Veyron’s rear Michelin. The front wheels are also spaced out and the latest adjustable Kayaba shocks absorb undulations in the sand. And the fact that it’s set low keeps the centre of gravity close to the ground, preventing you from rolling. It also helps that the gearing is automatic, with the thumb-operated throttle having to be opened to 4000rpm before the driving belt is engaged in one long gear.

To steer it feels a lot like a quad, but has none of the roll or body sway (both yours and the quad’s) that makes you think twice about taking sharp bites at the steering at speed. There’s a bigger sense of security than on a quad, mainly because you feel the stability through the track digging into the ground, even as you build up speed.

After a few minutes, I thumb the throttle to its end and wooooooaaaa – this is where it becomes intimidating. Having your body in the open air accelerate in the seat of a Caterham, behind even the smallest of windscreens is one thing, but being hurled forward on bumpy sand is quite another. It is just a mountain of power and torque - it makes you open your eyes very wide and pay close attention. It’s like being a puck as you’re pushed along by the ice hockey stick. You move along at a constant pace and all of a sudden, when the player sets his sights on the goal, you’re flicked into the distance and fly forwards. While you try to adjust, you really are half holding on, half trying to concentrate on the roughness of the ground ahead.

Turning in it is just a case of balance and flow. You shift your weight as you turn and try to move with the machine instead of letting it take you the way you direct it. The reassuring factor is that you can direct it at an incline of any gradient and it carries you to the top. Unlike anything with four wheels, you can point it towards the sky, stop before you reach the top and not get bogged down in the sand. Thanks to that track, the thing just refuses to get stuck.

The distance the Sand-X manages to cover in such a short space of time is indeed baffling. But if you can get used to that, you can find yourself tackling bigger and more scary looking dunes, briefly using the hydraulic Brembo brake to slow you down as you reach the top, checking the altitude on the digital readout, and then accelerating down the decline looking for your next steep and perfectly smooth dune. I could see this turning into something of a weekend blast.

Most of Sand-X buyers do use it for that exact purpose, but it does have some non-civil uses. Governments in the region use it for border control and military and rescue missions. It has a loading capacity of up to 220 kilograms so guns and other vital equipment can be loaded onto it. Handy. As is the range – with a full 40-litre tank, you can cover 350 kilometres.

However, that’s not really the point. There is a second reason we’re here. Editor Bassam has brought his 911 GT2 and we’re going to see just what a Canadian-made, Swiss-engineered, UAE-assembled all-terrain, modified snowmobile can do. Theoretically, with Urs’ claim of a 0-100kph time of 2.8sec, the Sand-X should eat the Porsche, which is capable of doing the same in 3.7sec.

First round, I give Bassam and Urs the countdown (I lack the balls and the skill to ride the Sand-X properly at any real speed, or give it the proper justice it deserves). The two build up the revs. As I drop my hand, both machines squat firmly to the ground and three pieces of rubber chirrup off the line. Bassam leaves a number 11 on the hot tarmac and the Sand-X wins the first 30 metres or so in the initial lunge. Yet when Bassam up-shifts into second, the GT2 really gets into its stride and makes the most of its 530 horsepower. The first run is inseparable.

‘As I drop my hand, both machines squat firmly and three pieces of rubber chirrup off the line’

The second ends in more or less the same way. This time Bassam gets the balance of throttle and clutch just right and nudges ahead by a nose-length at the road sign finish line a couple of hundred metres ahead.

At the third attempt, there’s a distinct mechanical smell at the end of the run, which can only mean the GT2’s clutch is wearing away. Doing many more standing starts inevitably makes Bassam a little edgy. Not so Urs. With full-on abuse, the Sand-X’s track will last for 1,500km if used solely on tarmac and 10,000km on sand before it needs to be replaced (cost of a new track: $ 330). I don’t doubt this kind of full bore acceleration would’ve counted for at least a few of those kilometres.

For the next few runs, I pull up the stopwatch. The 0-100 times run like this: 3.9secs, 4.2secs, 4sec. Each time, Urs is just alongside, if slightly behind. It isn’t quite 2.8secs, but still quick enough to make you feel uncomfortable. I’m sure that, had it been equipped with a gearbox, with the lower gears helping to propel it forward, it would’ve been a different story.

On the road, you could say the Sand-X has met its match. Off road, considering the way it covers ground so efficiently, you’d have to be an absolute nut to think that it isn’t fast enough.

The sheikhs knew what they were buying into. Seems like the joke is firmly on those who think the anecdote funny.