I'm not really planning a career switch to racing or going wheel to wheel, nor do I have the budget for it. But I do want to have fun and do something more enjoyable than 90 degree turns at traffic lights. I'm not much interested in the competitive aspect but the recreational aspects, to have fun driving quickly in a safe environment. So basically just autocross and hpde/open lapping events.

yup auto-x is a nice low cost starting point but like i said, i jumped straight into hpde and havent looked back. the higher speeds and instruction are my 2 fav parts about it.

Let's not forget old fashion treeware - books! Ross Bentley's "Speed Secrets" series is great. The Skip Barber "Going Faster" is quite good too and fills in some gaps or expands on the Speed Series. These will help, along with occasional in car instructors/veterans, to make sure your seat time is quality seat time. Another great teacher is an in car lap timer, ideally predictive lap times, and data logging. You get instant feedback on how you're doing (via the lap timer) and can do post-track analysis to figure out lap to lap how it compares and how to put together a fast lap.

Yeah, passing a bunch of cars on the track doesn't make you a fast driver all the time, they could just be slow drivers or you have a fast car

+1 for books. i have "going faster" by barber, "driving in competition" by johnson and "secrets of solo racing" by watts. i picked them up a couple years ago when i first got the idea to start tracking and flip through them occasionally. im kind of ocd in that the more info i get, the better. then i can put it all together and sort out what works for me when it comes to the track. which is also why ive rode in 10+ different types of cars with my instructors just to see the different lines and techniques that they use.

^^+1 on that.

It didn't matter how much I read or practiced myself.

I just found riding/coaching from a more experienced driver worked best for me. B/c until then my concepiton of what was 100% was much different than theirs.

Paul from AE Performance jumped in my car with me at a local event and after our 2nd session I pulled 3 secs off my laps. I had no idea how much more my car was capable of until he drove it and I got to see how much later I could brake, and quicker my car could go through several sections. The guy is crazy fast behind the wheel and it scared me at first, but it totally worked for me.

My confort level of what is "100%" for me is now much quicker that it was before.

:driving: