Forty-five years behind the lens, five 36-exposure rolls of film for every race weekend, and a nickname – “Zio” – that has become a trademark in the paddock. This is the story of Fabrizio Porrozzi, one of the most famous photographers in world motorcycling, who started out in Vallelunga following his brother, a journalist, magazine editor, and for 10 years speed coordinator for the Italian Motorcycling Federation.

“With analog, you had 180 photos per weekend and no more than two or three attempts per shot,” he recalls. “Today, it would be like spending €20,000 to send five photos.” The turning point came in 1999 with the first digital SLR camera, which radically changed the profession: from international phone calls costing 19 million lire to send photos from Japan to a $100-a-year subscription to CompuServe.

Twenty-five years as Ducati's official photographer, decades of collaboration with Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi, a brotherly friendship with Troy Bayliss. “The most iconic photo? Fred Merkel's jump at Pons Ricard in 1989, my first year in World Superbike.”

COVID has allowed me to rediscover the analog archive, bringing to light forgotten images such as Bayliss' legendary overtaking at Monza. Now the baton passes to Valerio, the son who has inherited his father's passion: “In this job, you either know how to take photos or you don't, regardless of your surname.”