With so much to see and do at this years Japfest, I'm not surprised that the club stand was left unattended for long periods. Many of the guys had briefings to attend to, they had their track time to do the business in, us polishers tried to support the guys on the track and get a good view as they blatted round. Unfortunately, unlike Castle Combe, a decent viewing point for the track meant moving a significant distance away from the club stand. If you wanted to absorb the other cars on display, just to walk around and see everything briefly took several hours and from what I saw, the other club stands were also fairly derelict of people in general - be it the EVO guys, the Honda guys or the Supra guys, so that seems a slightly clouded judgement to me.
I agree we could've made more of an effort as a club to "arrange" the cars differently in our dedicated area but as members were all arriving at different times, our crowd of drivers were already spread out across the event, some seeking warmth, others at briefings etc. Maybe, at the next event, you/somebody would make an effort to be the first to arrive and be prepared to take charge by coordinating the parking arrangement?
That said, I refuse to believe that because the cars on our stand weren't parked at an angle, or arranged in a specific colour order, that the official photographers didn't take any photographs. Maybe our cars just aren't appreciated as much as the more popular models on display, the Z32 is often overlooked. We didn't have any show stopping highly modified cars on display like Jason Farrow's beast, most were arguably tame looking cars in comparison and this type of event likes flamboyant cars!
Personally, I thought it was a reasonable turn out of Z32's. Obviously there could've been more but to get 10+ cars to any event, for me is a success, especially an event which isn't a "club" event and is something we tag along with another club (the rows of unattended 350s and 370s, but they had pictures taken?).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you're wrong in what you say, we could always make a bigger effort at these events but I just think we were up against it for its shear volume at this one. If a social event is more your thing where you want to talk to club members and like minded enthusiasts, then I would definitely suggest that you attend the clubs main event at Coventry transport museum. Whilst there are still some interesting activities to do, it's more focused on ourselves as a club in a more intimate environment and involves a lot more of a social aspect to the day. You obviously don't necessarily get the exposure of the Z32 amongst other like minded petrol heads, or a variety of different cars to see, or the excitement of an action based event that involves track action etc, but for what you're after in a show, it certainly sounds to me that a more "static" show would be preferential for you. It's also nice to see the interest taken by the general public in Coventry due to the Z32 being such an unknown.
There are several other meets across the country with the same or similar, that also involve other marques and other activities, such as Simply Japanese and the local car enthusiast shows, but generally, the bigger they get, the more there is to see, the less time people may spend standing next to their car.
I'm also disappointed that I didn't get to meet yourself and others, I'm also disappointed that, the people I did meet and talk to, was fairly brief and almost impersonal. However, that wouldn't put me off parking on the club stand next time as that will not solve anything. Next year, if a negative vibe of this event doesn't detract people from signing up and decrease attendance, maybe it will be different as the people attending will have a better idea of what is available to do and be able to prioritise what they do instead of trying to see everything, making more time for the club stand. Being the first time for this event at this location may have had some effect on the dynamic of the show and as it "matures" it might change, but I still believe that the shear volume of things to see and do will hinder what you're after; even if it's just the fact that you've got a good seating position in a grand stand and are enjoying watching the cars race round the track.
I hope you don't view this reply as a negative, it's taken me bloody ages to type on my phone and I really don't want to spend any more time proof reading it all! I just thought in the interest of our club and our beloved Z32s, I might shed an opinion.
