We have spent what feels like a lifetime looking for a race engine, for the blue Golf, whiling away hours on www.racecarsdirect.com in search of a decent unit. In the end, an advert sprung up on the Club GTI forum, for an ex-demo vehicle for Trimsport - a company that specialises in custom components for the GTI.

The advert was for the whole car, with all the bells and whistles, racecar bits and bobs, and a fresh 189bhp race-prep engine. The red race Golf was snapped up for $ 5800 and driven, along with our blue Golf to the workshop of Midland VW in the UK (prior to shipping to Dubai) where the red VW was stripped, donating it's engine, driveshafts, fuel lines, fuel pump - an Ashley competition exhaust and 16v conversion manifold. I then sold off the remnants of old red, including the rollcage, Perspex windows, carbon seats, 4-point harnesses, etc. This left me with a $ 3000 engine, which had powered the all-steel red Golf around the NŸrburgring in 8mins 22sec, despite it weighing that of two llamas compared to my featherweight fibreglass shell.

Prior to the transplant though we did do some test runs with the donor car at the Santa Pod drag strip in the UK. 0-100kph was found in 5.6secs, and the 1/4-mile in 13.8secs. We also rolling roaded the unit, to find the claimed 189bhp. This was achieved with the car burbling and spitting, stalling and running the best it could on ill ignition leads, poor fuel and an iffy ignition. Even so, the rolling road technician Jody was surprised the figure was so high, on a factory ECU, inlet manifold and standard injection.

It may be relative factory-spec, in terms of fuelling, but inside that block is something tasty. The engine itself started life as a 1.8 16v engine powering a Mk2 Golf GTI. It was then converted to 1900cc, before being handed over to Race Engineering Ltd, who adapted many years of motorsport experience to a basic 4-cylinder VW engine. It was the first Volkswagen engine they had ever worked on, and the results are impressive. Using Karl Schmidt pistons, a knife-edge crank, Schrick cams and a cylinderhead that has been taken to the absolute limits, the whole unit has been bolted down with ARP studs; rated at 220bhp.

The motor was then transplanted into the engine bay of the blue Golf, without any further medications or tuning, to ensure no power loss was encountered with the swap. Thankfully the same power figure flashed up, so all is good. The wiring is a bit hit and miss though; part Mk1 Golf GTI, part Mk2 Golf GTI 16v, part custom, part 1300cc Golf. It does the job, but starting from cold is sometimes a rather testing ordeal!

Our first run, down the road, fresh off the ramp was one of the most exhilarating moments of 2007, I must say... To hear the jet fighter roar resonate around the Spartan cabin of my Mk1 was a moment of emotional exuberance. As it sat idling perfectly, Jody advised me that it does need a serious shakedown and proper tuning. He also noted that the fuel tank was contaminated, sucking up rust and muck, causing the fuel delivery to be hesitant at best. However, Jody was grinning. 'It's still the quickest 16v Mk1 we've ever had at this garage. It's absolutely nuts.' The chief mechanic wandered over and was grinning twice as much as Jody. 'These engines either have loads of top end, or are stupidly quick off the line. This has to be both the quickest and fastest 16v Mk1 I have ever driven.' I'd turned up for the debut run of 189bhp Golf, in a 210bhp Caterham R400 - which is a seriously quick car - yet I returned after just a short blast up and down the road (up to fourth) in the 1980's Golf, shocked with a smile the span of Sicily. With this new lease of life the Mk1 will now not stay in a straight line, torque steers for Sweden and the wheels spin in first, second and third.

So it was high time for a Quaife ATB limited-slip differential, which I luckily found second-hand in Europe, along with a 5-speed racing transmission. I also bagged a Helix Autosport paddle clutch and a heavy-duty Autocaven gearbox mounting, all amounting to $ 2000. I have not yet experienced the benefits of the LSD, clutch and box, but progress is surely in my sight!