Filippo Bassoli (@bassolix) is something of a digital native, for many years working as the Global Marketing Director at @deuscustoms, and currently holding the same position at MV Augusta, but his choice of machine has never been that way. He’s passionate about engines, whether they are attached to two wheels or four, and whether those wheels are touching asphalt or - in many cases - dirt. As we stand in the vast quarry he recounts his earliest forays on off-road scooters in the countryside, when he was four, and then his memories of building his own bizarre off-roaders in his teenage years.

When he was eighteen he was driving a Caterham Super Seven, the lightweight British kit car. While it had a passenger seat (and zero creature comforts), Filippo often chose to drive alone, because as he says, “it doesn’t skid in third.” His weakness for British cars is never-ending, but this Porsche is his current love affair. He had been looking for a vintage, rally-raced Porsche for years. Not a new build; Filippo was on the hunt for a lived-in car which had really raced.

Original storytelling and photography for Type7 Magazine, later published on Deus International