"MSA karting (and now to a large extent non-MSA) puts you straight up against those running at national level or good enough to run at national level."
You highlight two problems.
The first is the standard of driving. It is, or should be, unthinkable that a top class, 4-weekends-a-month driver should be pushing another driver over the line at a clubby. (Unless he knows the other driver well. There's a top driver who regularly pushes me over the line but I noticed that he didn't do the same thing to a new 'just off plates' driver. He said he didn't know what would happen if he did, while he can rely on my reactions.)
Too many drivers are taught that winning at any cost is all that matters. At one clubby event a team manager came over to our tent and told us that we were 'bad for karting' because we were clearly having too much fun and didn't care that we were finishing at the back of the grid. He was scared that our attitude would be catching! We also deliberately don't hide the karts away in a tent.
The other point is attainable ambition. There's a clubman championship designed for people who don't have the resources or experience for successful deep-pockets racing, but many drivers / parents see an attraction in coming 59th in "a prestige series" rather than in the top 10 of comparable drivers. Also, at 5 local rounds, it isn't a championship that demands that same ferocious level of participation. It is however sadly under-represented in most of the classes.
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