Aren't there some well thought and well formed points of discussion here?
I really don't know whether there is any chance of our beloved sport gaining huge spectator numbers again. In days of old(!) things like the GP and even the better club meetings gained large numbers because there was not a lot else to do, or go to. That is no longer the case. Remember when MANZ, as it was, would decline a permit application because there was a similar event in a reasonable geographic radius? Now our sport has to compete with all sorts, often times conflicting motoring based things. The Festival was on the same weekend (one of them anyway) as Kumeu Swap meet and Hot rod, yes a lot of people go to one or the other, but Kumeu was heaving with people on the Saturday, and many of the same I spotted at HD Sunday. That does not take any account of other sports at all, and with most folks with much smaller discretionary money to spend they have to make a choice.
As for the classes, in my opinion, none of those promulgated by the hierarchy in recent years have had any appeal. Full stop.
When the NZGP was run for Formula Fords I lost interest and yet to be re-kindled. Close racing is not the answer, and I don't know why, just look back at any old footage, races were won by big margins.
For the true enthusiast the saying "rubbing is racing" is just not true. Most of us respect both the longevity of the vehicles and the safety of the drivers. For me, as soon as that stuff starts I am "out of here", both as a spectator and from any other aspect. If you want to see that go to the dirt ovals.
The ovals can actually show lot, quick fire races, packed programmes, vocal informed commentators (most of the time) and it is a hell of a show. Of course, that is part of it, motorsport is NOT about racing cars any more, it is a spectacle for the crowd which just happens to be based around cars. Perhaps that's why the sport is suffering, it's not a spectacle, and the cars selected don't encourage that.