The history of performance cars is packed with rivalry, but few are as long-running or closely fought as Volkswagen’s hot hatch grudge match with Ford. GTIs, G60s, VR6s and R models have locked horns with the likes of RS, ST and XR since the early 1980s, and Tim Dunn is unusually familiar with both sides of that divide. Having spent his entire adult life dabbling in the best that each brand can offer, Tim Dunn’s 500hp Mk2 is a meeting of worlds.
“My dream car in school was an Escort Cosworth, so when I had my first GTI I was always drawn to the RS Turbos… with the dump valves going off, and things like that,” he tells us. “At the time, the Mk4 Golf was out of the question because it was brand new and they didn’t have anything turbocharged before that, which is I went down the Ford route. Then I got back into Volkswagens and people were putting 20-valve turbo engines into Mk2s. That seemed like the ultimate Golf, and something I could probably do myself.”
Looking back, Tim had the makings of a life-long Ford fanatic. His uncle kick-started an interest in mechanics while he was in primary school, which developed into a career choice as his older brother enlisted his help working on Fiestas and XR3is as a teenager. By the time Tim started his
