So, you've got the bug, the adrenaline is flowing, you're considering booking your first trackday - but have you got the right car for the job?
Well, the answer is probably yes. There may be 32 million drivers on the UK's roads, but fewer than 10,000 regularly do trackdays - often because they don't think their car is up to the task.
But the truth of the matter is that the novice trackdayer does not need a supercar - the best possible set of wheels to take on a race circuit is the car with which he or she is most familiar - even if it's the family hatchback.
The Trackdays.com Show - the first-ever trackday-focussed event of its kind - gets the green flag on Sunday, April 30, 2006, at Rockingham Motor Speedway, Northants, and its aim is to help bring trackday wannabes into the pastime.
And if there's one place to find out which car you should be strapping on for a top trackday, then the Trackdays.com Show is it
"Don't be tempted to think that joining a trackday club immediately bestows upon you the car control capability of the average F1 driver - and don't be tempted to go out and buy a purpose-built trackday car before you've even been near a circuit," said Ian Raybould of Trackdays.com.
"If you do - and you've never been to a trackday - you could end up arriving in a highly-strung trackday-prepared car with seemingly no suspension movement, brakes that only work when they're hot, a clutch that's like a switch and steering that's ten times sharper than anything you've ever driven before.
"Your seat will be a foot lower than you're used to, and it'll make as much noise as the Space Shuttle at takeoff. It has probably been gradually modified and developed over several years by someone who has their own driving style that's very different to yours. And if that's your first experience, then you'll not enjoy it.
"The best car to take on track for the first time is actually your day-to-day road car - assuming it's in good order - because it's one less unfamiliar element to a first track day that will otherwise be full of the unfamiliar.
"If you know your car, how it reacts and how it drives then you can concentrate on building confidence, getting to know the track and gradually increasing your pace.
"We see literally anything and everything from classics to diesel family hatchbacks, supercars to saloons."
Trackdaying - in which non-competition drivers take their standard or modified road cars onto the UK and Europe's top race circuits for high speed days out - is fast growing.
"Of course, there are experienced trackdayers with all manner of fast and exotic motors, but typical road-standard hot hatches or sports saloons as well as mainstream sports cars provide their owners with masses of fun and a great learning platform.
"Leaving aside the trackday regulars and their modified cars, we generally see novice trackdayers' cars falling into a number of defined categories:standard 'sporty' cars such as hot hatches, specialised cars such as Lotus or Caterham, fast Japanese saloons such as Evos and Imprezzas or standard 'supercars' or top end coupes such as Porsches, BMWs or fast Audis.
"The trick is to start slow and smooth, get into a rhythm and get to know and understand your car. If you go straight out and try to bang in a Kimi-style qualifier straight off, then your car and your day will more often than not come to a premature end."
But what is a trackday? In a nutshell a track day is an opportunity for fully UK licensed drivers to take their own car onto the country's race circuits, and must not be confused with 'racing schools' which often provide only limited opportunities and limited laps for drivers.
Drivers each have their own reasons for going trackdaying. For some it's a one-off experience to simply see what they or their car can do. Others may be frustrated racing drivers who have never had the money or the wheels to compete.
But for most it's the opportunity to develop and hone their high-speed driving skills in a relatively safe race-circuit environment.
"Trackdaying is not racing. There are rules and regulations that must be adhered to, but this actually enhances the experience. Racing may be great to watch, but it's actually absolute chaos most of the time, and even the back markers have tremendous awareness and control skills," said Ian Raybould of trackdays.com.
"Whichever circuit you choose for your trackday, you'll notice that it is manned and equipped as it would be for a motor racing event. Marshals, first aid and race control staff are all in attendance.
"Whether it's open pitlane or sessioned, we'd never recommend a car or driver stays on a circuit for more than 20 minutes, and the last lap of each of your sessions should be a 'warm-down' lap: tremendous heat and energy is generated, and the car needs to gently cool off, particularly the brakes.
"But if you are an absolute novice, then, for your enjoyment and safety, it is always best to book some instruction - instructors, who are usually full-time racing drivers - are on hand at every trackday, and the difference they make to your confidence, smoothness, accuracy and development of pace cannot be underestimated.
"Invest time, patience and preparation in your first trackday, and you'll be absolutely hooked."
Full details and tickets are available from trackdays.com.
