Something that might attract more activity would be having more car parts.
My thoughts were: spoiler, tires, frames, and transmissions.
You don't make the part itself rare but make 6 different types and only 5 types are rareish. Throw... Idk say 1000 of each item out there. Take 500 and make them 1 style that isn't very good. Then take the remaining 500 and Split those into 5 different styles/makes whatever you'd like to call it. Each one will have its own attributes obviously that are decently good!
You could even get crazy and add a longer race with different parts or at least another attribute. So faster cars might lose to a slower one (in the longer races) that's put together better or something. Idk you'd have to put a lot more thought into this second part but it'd add a whole new world that I think ppl might enjoy! I'm just rooting for more activity is all, let me know what ya think!