It was with some trepidation that we approached Fossil Rock. Would “The Beast”’s small wheels just cut down into the sand beaching it with all too much ease? Could the two litre engine power its way over the dunes?

It start well albeit a little bit over manic, with the constant thought of those little narrow tyres. The small stuff was no sweat. As we rose the sand became softer but the beast beasted it. At the col the first limitation of the beast came to the fore. Just going down the other side we bottomed out, helpfully conveyed to us by the sound of metal grinding on rock. Lucky a survey reported no damage.

Next challenge was a steep dune beside a rocky out crop on soft sand. Once, twice, three times, four times we tried to get the beast to the top with the faint aroma of clutch in the air (the beast is a manual). Almost immediately after our failed attempts we got a little stuck and so with a bit of heavy clutch work, back and forth, we were out however it was a pyrrhic victory. The clutch was is a bad way and we limped back to the road.

The moral of the story: The beast can tame the dunes but maybe it shouldn’t... 

(Also perhaps the driver should get more experience driving a manual on sand ...)