The whoosh of Luke Skywalker's landspeeder was achieved by recording the roar the Los Angeles Harbor Freeway through a vacuum-cleaner pipe.
http://filmsound.org/starwars/
You could try doing this and see if you get the same effect.
You could check out Lawrence for desert shots, probably best to get some stock footage and make a 3d vehicle with a particle trail. If it is only small in the frame then you wouldn't have to do a great job for it to be convincing. If you grab a hidef video or hires photo it gives you the option to do a camera move on it as well.