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Ah, but bear in mind we're a strange lot in the world of ancient racing cars, and the VSCC meetings are the only opportunity we've got to indulge our passion. It is very much a club, too. The race meetings are as much a social occasion as a race meeting. The practical upshot is that the members have to be very carefully enthused about the prospect of sharing their track time with cars that they don't necessarily want to pay money to see.
I would be inclined to say that guest races are probably the way forward. Yes, the VSCC could perhaps put on a demonstration race at other, more mainstream events, but by the same token, any other cars ought to come to the VSCC meetings as guest races in return.
The big problems are recognition and expectation. The average racegoer could probably spot a Bentley, but might be hard-pressed to assign some other identification to the Lagonda or Alvis or Riley lined up next to it. Some sort of popularisation needs to take place there - and I don't pretend to know how to do that. The other thing is expectation. The mention of the Bentley-Napier dicing with three-wheeler Morgans illustrates this. It's quite a regular sight at VSCC meetings and yet most "modern" racegoers will have no idea that such machines exist, let alone race. The amused delight I've seen on the faces of unsuspecting race fans when the three-wheel Morgan club have come out to play at modern meetings suggests to me that the ground is fertile for gaining converts. Tell the world that these machines are raced and raced hard. Tell them that there are cars good for quite indecent speeds, and wholeheartedly agree that the pilots are truly barking, and they will come, I am certain.
What I can confidently say doesn't work is the exercises in high-profile demonstrations. The Ferrari incident at Donington this season is a case in point. I heard of not one single person who came to the VSCC Donington specifically to see the Ferraris and by contrast heard an awful lot of less than gruntled comment from VSCC members who felt that valuable track time and paddock space had been taken up with what was effectively a promotional show.
One final thing - there is a case to suggest that there is less of a problem than might be imagined as regards attendance. Mallory VSCC last year was frankly crowded, and the biggest attendance I've seen at Mallory Park in years. Similarly the Itala trophy is one of the better attended meetings in Silverstone's calendar. This is not to say for one moment that more souls through the gates will not be welcome but perhaps the VSCC could be surprised by the quality of their attendance figures in comparison with many other organising clubs.
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