Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief | Motorsport Memorabilia with Miguel Ramos

Transcript

The Motorsport Brief | Motorsport Memorabilia with Miguel Ramos · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  Today we'll explore the memorabilia business with an Aussie who spent 30 years authentically connecting competitors with collectors.
• 0:15
  G'day everyone, Rusty here.
• 0:16
  On the line from the US is Miguel Ramos, who's been in this game all of his working life.
• 0:21
  How he got into it, what to look out for if you're buying or looking for that special piece to hang on the wall or put in the cave.
• 0:28
  The lengths that some fans go to and the massive names who trust him to represent them.
• 0:33
  We'll get to Miguel shortly.
• 0:35
  Thank you for the feedback on the re-release of Jeremy Burgess 2.
• 0:38
  Our hunch that a number of you didn't perhaps realise he was already in our library seems right.
• 0:44
  And appreciate Mick Doohan sharing our clip from that one on socials too.
• 0:48
  Working with Mick, Valentino Rossi, Randy Mimola and more, plus his recollections of that fierce battle between Casey Stoner and Valentino that created headlines everywhere at the time.
• 0:59
  Check that out.
• 1:00
  It is back toward the top of our library list for you.
• 1:04
  And we're grateful to Anton Di Pasquale, too.
• 1:06
  I was in Melbourne by chance, and it lined up for him to join us, to visit us in our listener studios for a feature chat.
• 1:13
  It just flowed and almost seemed to be without a set plan.
• 1:17
  His early days with his dad playing catch-ups in carts, and he caught up real fast too, coming to Mark Larkham's attention and going to Europe for a Formula Renault title win and driving at some legendary tracks over there to achieve that.
• 1:32
  changing tack to get into supercars and the day at norwell with paul morris that set him on the path plus the highs and lows at djr how he feels about that with the benefit of time now the tight bonds that he's formed at team 18 and more search for anton in the garage library a little bit later time to bring in our guest miguel who i really should have had on the pod much sooner
• 1:57
  When we began emailing with the idea of this, I think you said to me something like 30 years to cover in a 20-minute shortcast.
• 2:04
  That'll be interesting.
• 2:04
  Has it really been that long?
• 2:06
  That blows my mind.
• 2:07
  How are you?
• 2:09
  Yeah, look, it blows mine too, but it has been.
• 2:12
  It's my 30th year in business.
• 2:14
  You know, I first bumped into the industry in 96 and here we are still going along.
• 2:21
  Yeah.
• 2:22
  And I like to say I don't know that I've got another 30 in me, but I've enjoyed the first 30.
• 2:27
  I love people who passionately find a way to be involved in the sport.
• 2:32
  Not all of us can be riders or drivers or be in that spotlight, but we find...
• 2:38
  success, if you will, in a different way, in a different corner of it all.
• 2:42
  I gather this all started by you being maybe a bit of a fan as a kid with collector's cards and autographs and so on.
• 2:50
  Just tell me about that.
• 2:52
  Yeah, look...
• 2:53
  It's funny because it kind of, it did at the time, you know, I always wanted to be a professional tennis player.
• 3:00
  And growing up in Adelaide, you know, they had the two lead up tournaments to the Australian Open.
• 3:06
  They had the South Australian Men's Hard Court and then the Rio International.
• 3:10
  And I mean, big names, Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker.
• 3:14
  would be there every year.
• 3:16
  And I would be there as a 15-year-old, you know, hunting him down and getting autographs, just, you know, posters to put on the wall.
• 3:25
  And certainly at the time I didn't think that was going to lead to a career in the autograph industry, but it eventually did.
• 3:35
  And, yeah, and here we are 30 years later.
• 3:40
  Not as a professional tennis player, but maybe as a professional, as a billiard dealer.
• 3:45
  There is a little extension to that story you just spoke about.
• 3:49
  Can we tap into the fact that maybe you were end of high school or just out of high school, you go to the United States and it opens your mind to the whole notion of collectibles and memorabilia and so on, doesn't it?
• 4:04
  Yeah, that's right.
• 4:06
  So it was a month before my 18th, and I scraped through high school, didn't know what to do with myself.
• 4:13
  So I thought I would get out of Adelaide and visit family in the US and in Spain and see what else there was out there.
• 4:22
  And that's when I bumped into the autograph memorabilia business.
• 4:26
  I was actually wanting to meet Michael Jordan to get an autograph.
• 4:30
  I was a big fan, of course, of the NBA and Jordan at the time.
• 4:35
  And a friend said, well, that's not going to happen.
• 4:37
  It's too difficult.
• 4:39
  But you can buy autographs.
• 4:42
  So we went to this memorabilia show, which was a convention center full of people selling autographs.
• 4:47
  Yeah.
• 4:48
  And that's going to hit me, wow, you know, this would be great to do back in Australia because obviously we're all sports fanatical.
• 4:55
  And from what I knew, it didn't really exist at the time.
• 4:59
  And, bae, that's what I said, you know, this is what I'm going to do.
• 5:05
  And it went from there.
• 5:07
  What did you do then in terms of kick-starting it?
• 5:10
  And was motorsport the first thing or was it something else?
• 5:14
  Well, I started learning about the industry.
• 5:16
  I started traveling around to some different memorabilia shows and meeting people that were in the industry, different managers, different dealers.
• 5:24
  And I've started, you know, I formed some relationships with some key people in the US.
• 5:32
  I was introduced to the, you know, Muhammad Ali's agent, for example, and he was one of the first guys that I was given an opportunity to work with.
• 5:42
  So yeah, met the right people.
• 5:44
  It was really more sort of some of the American sports, obviously, that I was working with to begin with.
• 5:52
  And when I eventually came back to Australia a year and a half later, I had a great assortment of American memorabilia products.
• 6:00
  And the relationship with Ali had started and his range of products that...
• 6:06
  And I did quickly realize, well, if we're going to grow the business in Australia, I need to work with an Australian icon, really, and look no further than Mick Doohy, who had won – well, it was 96 when I got back.
• 6:36
  I was a fan as well of motor racing, and I remember going to a lot of Formula One races as a kid growing up in Adelaide and watching Mick do and win on the bikes.
• 6:48
  My dad was a very dedicated Spanish man who, while he appreciated Mick, was also, I think, rooting for some of the Spanish riders that Mick raced against.
• 7:00
  Yeah.
• 7:01
  So, yeah.
• 7:02
  We'll drill down on the motorsport, obviously, in a bit more detail at a moment.
• 7:06
  But I want to just – I wouldn't say you've undersold it, but you haven't probably given us the full yarn there.
• 7:15
  You spent some quality time with Muhammad Ali, and it leads to, mate, basically a 10-year agent relationship in this part of the world, does it not?
• 7:25
  Tell me about that.
• 7:26
  Yeah, well, I was, I was, they weren't working directly with anyone in Australia at the time, his management.
• 7:32
  So, yeah, I was given the opportunity to be his exclusive, you know, Australian distributor.
• 7:38
  So really the only person in Australia that was working directly with Muhammad Ali to produce his,
• 7:44
  his official license memorabilia over a 10-year span.
• 7:49
  And yeah, I got to meet him many times.
• 7:54
  Took my dad to meet him, some close friends.
• 7:56
  I see.
• 7:57
  Which was interesting because when I first got back to Australia from the US and I came back with these Muhammad Ali sign items and some other stuff and my dad thought I was crazy, that I was going to...
• 8:11
  start a business and be successful, you know, selling autographs.
• 8:15
  And, um, he, he said, you know, go to university, like your brother and get a degree.
• 8:21
  Um, so, but, um, yeah, it was a great, it was, uh, you know, I still look back and think some of the special moments that I had with him and, and, and,
• 8:30
  He was actually one of my dad's heroes as well, you know, so I was able to take my dad to me, Muhammad Ali, a couple of times, which was, you know, very special.
• 8:38
  So I think, you know, working with Ali really opened the door to, you know, some of the, well, opened the door to Mick Doohan and many other athletes that I've worked with, that's for sure.
• 8:49
  There is a little crossover point here, mate, where it might have been quite surreal for you too.
• 8:55
  About the time, I'd say, of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, you're on Mick's boat.
• 9:00
  I think Muhammad Ali is there.
• 9:02
  You're on Sydney Harbour.
• 9:03
  Tell me about that.
• 9:04
  Well, we were doing a signing with Ali in Sydney during the Olympics, and I had asked, I sent Mick a message and said, you know, you want to come and meet Ali?
• 9:14
  I'm doing a signing with him.
• 9:16
  Mick used to live next to Joe Bagner as well in Queensland.
• 9:20
  And so we had talked several times about Ali and...
• 9:23
  And unfortunately, Mick was out of town, he said.
• 9:27
  Otherwise, he'd love to.
• 9:30
  And then I remember, I don't know if it was later that day or the next day, he sent me a message and he said, look, you know, I've got the boat in Sydney.
• 9:39
  If you feel it's going to help, you know, strengthen your relationship with Ali or anything, you know, it's there at your disposal to take him out, you know, on the harbour.
• 9:49
  And I was obviously very surprised and grateful.
• 9:53
  And I put it out to Ali's people.
• 9:56
  And surprisingly as well, they said, yeah, I would love to.
• 10:01
  So here we are during the Sydney 2000 Olympics, cruising in the Sydney Harbour.
• 10:06
  And there's Muhammad Ali, his wife, Lonnie, and my parents and a couple other friends.
• 10:13
  in what Muhammad said at the time, is the most beautiful harbour in the world.
• 10:18
  So it was a very special moment and still very grateful for Mick for making that happen.
• 10:25
  Mick had a tight group of people around him.
• 10:28
  You are dealing with him in a phase of his life.
• 10:30
  He's so much more mellow, I feel now, but he was...
• 10:34
  you know, fierce athlete back then, take no prisoners, you know, little wonder he won five straight.
• 10:41
  What was it like starting a relationship with him for this?
• 10:47
  And can you remember the first time maybe you sat him down for a series of signings or something like that?
• 10:52
  So, yeah, look, I do.
• 10:55
  We actually did our first signing in San Francisco.
• 10:58
  So this was after his injury in 99, which had him, yeah.
• 11:10
  Career-changing, mate.
• 11:11
  Career-changing moment for him, yeah.
• 11:14
  Yeah, that's right.
• 11:15
  So we actually flew to, I flew to San Francisco to do the first signing with him.
• 11:19
  And I remember him coming to the hotel and, you know, it began just another surreal moment working with one of, you know, the sport's greatest, you know, that's for sure.
• 11:31
  And, and, um,
• 11:34
  Yeah, this is going back to 99.
• 11:36
  But yeah, special moment.
• 11:38
  We did, I don't know, a few hundred items at the time, which went back to Australia and sold very, very quickly.
• 11:45
  And I remember being back in San Francisco a month or so later, you know, doing a follow-up sign, having more items signed because everything sold so quickly because no one had ever really released anything like this on Mick before.
• 12:00
  So...
• 12:03
  And I think he appreciated just seeing a young kid trying to... Having a go.
• 12:08
  Having a go, yeah.
• 12:10
  And he has been very, very supportive over the years and certainly have always done the right thing with him and all of the athletes and customers that I have a relationship with.
• 12:21
  And it's been really, really special.
• 12:26
  It leads to Valentina Rossi, to supercross riders.
• 12:29
  I'm sure a lot of that is relationship, reputation, and even referral.
• 12:36
  Can I come to what I think is a key part of, and maybe you discovered this very early on, Miguel, and that is you talk about the importance of product authenticity, right, and that there is a four-step process for you in that.
• 12:51
  So I guess that must...
• 12:54
  in your mind, try and help protect the athlete, the person you're working with, but also, too, the end buyer, the customer.
• 13:03
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 13:05
  And that was something I learned very early in the industry in order to, I think, have longevity and really offer customers 100% guarantee of authenticity.
• 13:16
  You need to know that the product is real.
• 13:19
  And the only way to know it's real is if, A, you witness it being signed yourself or a representative of the company,
• 13:27
  or B, you're buying off other really large, reputable companies, as for an example, Upper Deck, who Michael Jordan has spent his whole career with, signing official memorabilia.
• 13:42
  And yeah, so that's the stance we've taken since day one.
• 13:50
  And I've given myself the great job of...
• 13:53
  cruising around the world and witnessing all these signatures and building the relationships with all of the athletes.
• 14:00
  And, yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
• 14:03
  Do you go into it with an almost artistic mind?
• 14:06
  I'm sure it takes on many different forms.
• 14:08
  I think I can recall, mate, if memory serves, he had very sadly passed away.
• 14:13
  But I think I wanted a pick of Ayetton Senna at Adelaide in the famous McLaren area.
• 14:22
  And I'm fairly sure you tracked it down for me.
• 14:24
  And I have that framed to this day.
• 14:26
  It wasn't obviously autographed because we couldn't get that right.
• 14:31
  What I'm leading to is, do you work with, say, photographers or someone to go, that's the shot I want?
• 14:36
  Or that really illustrates the athlete?
• 14:39
  Or, I mean, is there, you know, is that a creative side for you that you look at?
• 14:45
  Absolutely.
• 14:46
  And look, most photographers have photo libraries, so websites that you can go on and search through thousands of images and find the moment you want, whether it's a special victory or you're at the race, you know, as a child with your father, and it's got a significant history for you personally attached.
• 15:09
  So yeah, there's a lot of time spent sifting through thousands of images and trying to find the right one.
• 15:14
  And
• 15:15
  And also trying to, it's not just what I like, it's trying to put yourself, you know, what does everyone else want as well.
• 15:22
  We're tricky.
• 15:24
  But I love the creative side as well.
• 15:26
  You know, we work with a designer for the last 30 years and Luke, who's been extremely valuable in bringing a lot of the creative side of our products to life.
• 15:39
  And so it's more than just a photo, for example.
• 15:42
  We'll park it up for a quick second.
• 15:44
  More of this motorsport memorabilia chat in a moment here on Rusty's Garage.
• 15:51
  This edition of The Brief tackles another sector of motorsport business that we haven't really stopped to discuss before.
• 15:57
  Let's continue the convo with Miguel Ramos from Autograph Collectibles Now.
• 16:03
  Can we touch on Valentino Rossi?
• 16:04
  Sure.
• 16:05
  Did that introduction come through Mick?
• 16:07
  How did you first meet him?
• 16:09
  I don't know if you're comfortable sharing it, but I've sensed a little of a superstitious side in him at times.
• 16:17
  Have you seen that, felt that?
• 16:19
  Is that a thing?
• 16:20
  Definitely.
• 16:21
  So I was introduced to Valentino at Phillip Island in 2000.
• 16:26
  It was actually someone you know very well too, you know, Dickie Smart.
• 16:31
  Yes.
• 16:33
  And he introduced me to Valentino and put in some good words and said, obviously, I'd been working with Mick for a while.
• 16:39
  And then I know Valentino went to speak to Mick.
• 16:43
  And so that's when I was introduced to him.
• 16:45
  And we started working together pretty much immediately.
• 16:51
  And, you know, again, I maintained pretty much an exclusive relationship with him throughout his career, producing all of his official signed memorabilia, which is just, I mean, crazy to think back on, you know, that opportunity that I was given and some of the moments and memories.
• 17:10
  you know, with him.
• 17:11
  But, I mean, you talk about superstitions.
• 17:13
  I remember one of the early signings we did in 2001 at Phillip Island.
• 17:19
  We would stay down there at the Waves and Anchor Apartments, a little apartment there.
• 17:26
  And, you know, he's known for running late.
• 17:30
  And I think he said he would come after dinner to sign, you know, everything we had.
• 17:35
  And initially, I think it was around 9.30, 10 that I was told he would come.
• 17:41
  And anyway, he didn't end up coming till close to one in the morning.
• 17:44
  And he rocked up with his, you know, entourage of half a dozen, you know, close friends.
• 17:49
  And
• 17:50
  He sat and he signed everything and, you know, the next day he went out and he won the world championship.
• 17:56
  Crazy.
• 17:58
  Yeah, I mean, it really is to think.
• 18:01
  So, you know, moving forward, we did a couple signings with him every year and one was always at Phillip Island.
• 18:07
  We ended up having the same apartment for many years that we were kept there.
• 18:13
  And, of course, he would rock up every Saturday night after midnight
• 18:19
  to do the signing in the same way.
• 18:21
  And he ended off winning the championship at Phillip Island for several years and would win the race there as well for several years.
• 18:30
  So I think he baked into his winning formula that he had to see me after midnight to sign everything.
• 18:37
  Yeah.
• 18:39
  It was great to be a part of that.
• 18:40
  It was not great for us that had to get up early and work in the expo hall.
• 18:45
  We needed our sleep.
• 18:46
  I love that, mate.
• 18:47
  You see that he's quite invested with, say, an Aldo Drudi when it comes to the design of his helmets and so on.
• 18:54
  Is he actively interested in what you're doing and wanting to know that it has that kind of uniqueness or creative flair that you talked about before?
• 19:05
  He would ask for his, you know, I don't know his personal collection, but definitely, you know, for the office space at VR46.
• 19:13
  And I know even at his home, there's a couple of things in his garage.
• 19:16
  Some of the things that had some artistic creation too that he liked.
• 19:21
  So he didn't want to collect every single little piece, but he has certainly asked for many over the years.
• 19:27
  Yeah.
• 19:28
  Sorry, keep going.
• 19:31
  Yeah, he appreciated what we were doing.
• 19:33
  He realised that there were fans, obviously his fans, that wanted to buy, you know, real official memorabilia.
• 19:41
  And he allowed us that opportunity to make it happen for some of these fans.
• 19:47
  Great stuff.
• 19:47
  Righto, rattle off some of the other names that you've worked with along the way, Supercross Riders and more.
• 19:52
  Gosh, I mean, supercross riders, we went through an era there.
• 19:55
  I mean, Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, Chad Reed, Ryan Villopoto, James Stewart during his successful era, Travis Pastrana.
• 20:06
  And then, of course, you know, Formula One as well.
• 20:08
  I started working with...
• 20:10
  with Mark Webber in 2003, Kimi Räikkönen, Sebastian Vettel, Juan Pablo Montoya.
• 20:21
  There's been here, there's been a few.
• 20:23
  Is there a grail item for you, mate?
• 20:24
  Is there something that you maybe haven't done, someone you haven't had the chance to work with yet that you'd like to?
• 20:30
  Oh, look, I mean, Lewis Hamilton would be incredible, you know, what he's achieved in the sport and potentially will continue to do.
• 20:40
  Or you won with Ferrari, which was another record, and he's posing in on Kimi Antonelli this year, so...
• 20:48
  I mean, that would be incredible, but we'll see if that can ever happen.
• 20:53
  Don't name names for me, but are there clients who are like repeat, repeat, repeat clients who are these kind of diehard followers of someone and they go to decent lengths to ensure they've got all sorts of memorabilia to celebrate this hero of theirs?
• 21:09
  Absolutely, yeah.
• 21:10
  I mean, a lot of our customers, a very high percentage are repeat buyers and have their walls covered in our pieces.
• 21:20
  And, you know, some of them just support one rider.
• 21:23
  Some of them support the sport and multiple riders.
• 21:27
  But, I mean, we have one customer who, I mean, he literally had a storage that he had rented out to put all of our pieces.
• 21:36
  I mean, it was, I think, close to 200.
• 21:38
  And he didn't even have them all up on the wall because he didn't have room.
• 21:43
  So he had this rotation, you know, service there happening.
• 21:51
  Unbelievable.
• 21:52
  Formula One's going through this insane phase at the moment, mate.
• 21:55
  I know we've talked regularly on the pod about...
• 21:57
  The impact of Drive to Survive, the F1 movie and so on, no doubt Liberty's involvement will have a similar impact on MotoGP.
• 22:08
  But are you, at your end, experiencing the knock-on effect of that?
• 22:12
  Yeah, look, definitely.
• 22:14
  We are.
• 22:15
  I mean, we work with Charles Leclerc, Isaac Hadjar, Oscar for a couple years, and definitely, yes, we are.
• 22:23
  But it's also becoming a lot harder to work with these guys because of that huge surge in popularity and money that's in Formula One.
• 22:35
  It's making it harder as well for us.
• 22:38
  So, it's double-edged short, I think, on that one.
• 22:43
  Yeah, you need the product, absolutely.
• 22:44
  But I guess the popularity makes the accessibility sometimes and even the price of that seem ridiculous.
• 22:53
  People talk about the future of life generally, right?
• 22:56
  The impact of things like AI and so on.
• 22:58
  I feel like...
• 22:59
  the power of live sport, the adoration that we have for athletes will be even greater than what it is now.
• 23:08
  Does that help maybe shield you a little bit from some of that, do you feel, or is that a threat for you too?
• 23:14
  No, I don't think AI is a threat, no, to our business.
• 23:19
  I mean, no.
• 23:22
  No.
• 23:23
  You can't replicate an original signature.
• 23:25
  Exactly.
• 23:25
  The athlete likes to sit there and sign it.
• 23:28
  People want the tangibility of that too, mate, don't they?
• 23:31
  Yeah, just stop and think that your hero has touched this photo, has held this helmet to sign it, or the football, or the basketball.
• 23:39
  So AI can't reproduce that.
• 23:44
  No, absolutely.
• 23:45
  I'm not a believer in regret.
• 23:47
  I often say this on the podcast,
• 23:48
  Is there something along the way in these 30 years that you should have held on to, that you got someone to sign that you ultimately didn't keep one of for yourself?
• 24:00
  Good question.
• 24:01
  You know, for so long, you know, we would release obviously editions, limited editions, 30, 50, 100.
• 24:08
  And in the business, we would keep every number one of the edition.
• 24:12
  And it got to the point where we just, I mean, had photo draws and photo draws and we just didn't have the space to frame and display it all.
• 24:22
  And then,
• 24:23
  You know, you have kids and then you have other priorities.
• 24:26
  And I started selling some of these things because it's just let other people enjoy it.
• 24:32
  But honestly, I can't think of, you know, one item now that I regret selling.
• 24:38
  I mean, I've still got a pair of gloves from Mick from 99 in Japan that I got directly from him.
• 24:44
  They're still in my collection.
• 24:45
  Yeah, there's a few things I actually haven't sold.
• 24:48
  Well done.
• 24:50
  If you had a message for people that are true fans, diehard fans of stuff around the threat of fakes, mate, and what they should look for, what would you tell them?
• 24:59
  Because, you know, if we're trawling around on eBay or whatever and we see something and we think, oh yeah, I'll grab one of those, there is a need to just absolutely pause and do your proper homework and understand whether this is a legit thing.
• 25:15
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 25:16
  And I think, you know, the key word is, you know, do research.
• 25:20
  And just because a company gives you a guarantee of authenticity does not make the item real at all.
• 25:26
  Because anyone can register a business.
• 25:28
  Anyone can produce a guarantee of authenticity.
• 25:31
  You know, Joe will buy off Sam's, will buy off...
• 25:35
  Fred, and it's just a chain of unknowns.
• 25:37
  So you have to do your research, you know, deal with companies that are doing signs directly with these athletes themselves and ask questions.
• 25:47
  Well, where was it signed?
• 25:48
  When was it signed?
• 25:49
  You know, how many were signed?
• 25:51
  Proof.
• 25:51
  Yeah.
• 25:52
  You know, proof, yeah, you know, and that's the best advice I can give.
• 25:57
  Well done.
• 25:57
  And if it's too good to be true, it normally isn't.
• 26:00
  Yeah, exactly.
• 26:00
  As we wrap this up, mate, we often run into each other and invariably you have got a pop-up somewhere, maybe at Phillip Island.
• 26:08
  Are you going to miss Phillip Island first and foremost?
• 26:10
  And then secondly, we often see each other at F1 in Melbourne.
• 26:14
  Do you actually get a chance to enjoy the races or is it purely just looking after things like that for you?
• 26:21
  Yeah, I mean, I do.
• 26:23
  If I'm at a race working, I will always make the time after to watch the race.
• 26:28
  That's for sure.
• 26:29
  Places like Phillip Island, you know, there's a lot of TVs showing a race within the expo hall so we can watch it live.
• 26:36
  So I definitely do.
• 26:37
  We will be at Phillip Island this year.
• 26:40
  Last year there, I will miss going to Phillip Island.
• 26:43
  You know, I've been going every year since 99, despite the two COVID years.
• 26:48
  We're in sync, mate.
• 26:49
  We're in sync.
• 26:49
  I'm going to miss it too.
• 26:52
  So, yeah, this is a very special place.
• 26:55
  I have a lot of great memories and I will miss it.
• 27:00
  But I'm also excited about the move to Adelaide.
• 27:03
  Yep, your old hometown.
• 27:05
  Yes, my old hometown.
• 27:06
  Yeah, yeah, it's going to be interesting.
• 27:09
  I hope they can pull it off.
• 27:11
  And I'm sure they can.
• 27:13
  And it's going to be exciting to see, you know, what that race brings when it comes to attendance and just the overall weekend.
• 27:22
  I'm confident Adelaide will do a great job.
• 27:24
  They sound like they are working hard on that.
• 27:26
  So we wish them well.
• 27:27
  Where can people find you, mate?
• 27:29
  We are talking to you in LA today.
• 27:31
  I think you split a bit of your time.
• 27:34
  There's probably a physical office from what I can see there.
• 27:36
  But I mean, if people, because it is a business without borders, you are truly global in that sense.
• 27:41
  How can people find out more about what you do?
• 27:44
  The website is the best signed and authentic website.
• 27:50
  and through the website you can find our social media handles to follow us as well.
• 27:54
  Awesome, mate.
• 27:55
  This has been fabulous today.
• 27:56
  Autograph Collectibles is the name of the business if you are wanting to search for that.
• 28:01
  Our guest has been Miguel Ramos.
• 28:02
  It all started for him in Australia and it's gone global.
• 28:05
  And I love the fact that he's found a place, not just in motor racing, but in sport generally, where he can channel his true passion.
• 28:12
  And wonderful that you have met some
• 28:15
  true legends along the way and been able to capture a bit of that, mate.
• 28:19
  Congratulations.
• 28:20
  Thank you so much.
• 28:21
  And I mean, congratulations to you on your fantastic career.
• 28:24
  I know you've probably outdone me with the people you've met and interviewed and formed relationships with too.
• 28:32
  So congratulations to you.
• 28:33
  But one thing we have in common, my friend, we've both gone grey in the time in between.
• 28:38
  Awesome to chat.
• 28:39
  Thank you, mate.
• 28:40
  All right.
• 28:40
  Thank you so much for having me.
• 28:41
  All the best.
• 28:43
  I clearly have no idea of the ideal length of a shortcast, but there's no way that 10 minutes would have done that conversation justice.
• 28:50
  Hope you enjoyed it.
• 28:51
  A look at getting an old colleague in Oscar Fiorinotto on too.
• 28:54
  Another great Australian export story in our game.
• 28:58
  He's also from Adelaide.
• 29:00
  Super shock.
• 29:01
  You'll have heard about it in supercars with Pedders and more, but Oscar and his team are working with governments, military, and all sorts of different sectors now.
• 29:08
  Keep an eye out for that.
• 29:10
  Until next time, bye for now.