Students Who Race

[G.Irish]

So I forget all of who tracked their cars from the original group, but I know I did as well as RJ and Chan.  What I would say is:

Autocross First
Get some experience with autocross to build up your car control skills before you track.  Tracking is not exactly the same but having a feel for what happens when you step over the limit and having some ability to get the car back under control is vital

If You're Driving a Street Car...
I don't think you have to have a car you're willing to write off in order to track.  But you must be realistic about the possibility of that happening and mitigate that risk accordingly.

• Do not drive on the ragged edge of your abilities.  Leave yourself some margin (i.e. drive at 7/10ths or whatever).  It's tempting to drive as hard as you can in order to go as fast as possible around the track but your chances of crashing go up dramatically when you do so.  This becomes trickier the faster you get.  A lot of the crashes I've seen through the years happen in that inbetween period where someone is starting to get fast (intermediate to advanced group) but their judgment and car control skills haven't caught up.  Also, it's not a race, don't let the red mist cloud your judgment.
  
• Don't get the most expensive car you can afford.  Self explanatory
  
• Don't get a shitty car either.  The more things that can break/fail at the track, the higher the chances of a crash.  And having to do unplanned wrenching on your pile at the track is no fun, wastes track time, and is distracting.
  
• Don't get something monstrously fast to start out in.  Not saying you have to get a Miata, but something with 400+ hp is not necessary and may impede your growth as a driver.  And you will be going faster when you make a mistake, which makes it harder to recover and more likely you'll hit something.
  

Track insurance is a good option if you've got a car that is more expensive than you feel like risking.  That wasn't around back in the day.