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Everything said here has it's place.
After three years of tracking the car, my take on safety is this and some may disagree: until you get up into the 'upper intermediate/advance' stages, you are relatively safe. The 'upper intermediate/advance' drivers are at the most risk. Your skills are not as good as you think and you become too comfortable for your skill set. You are still susceptible to the 'red mist' syndrome and the adrenalin rush. The more experienced driving instructors can weigh in on this topic. Seat time is the only thing that matters. The more you have, the better you are.
Learning your car is the most important thing right now. How it behaves when doing certain things. How your tires sound and or feel when you are getting to the limit of adhesion. Starting to understand the physics of what that car is doing, eg. why is the car doing this... oh, I did this so it has to do this.....
Your first four or five outings, you are going to feel rushed in the cockpit and your field of vision is going to be narrow. This changes with time. You start to instinctively get your eyes 'up and out' to see what is going on around that turn or way down the track. Then you start planning what you are going to do with the brakes, downshifting, turning. Looking for those reference markings, lining up with a distant tower to get the proper line to enter a turn. At VIR, turn 12 (Oak Tree) there is a eight inch section of the gator that has flaked off. If you can see it, that is your turn in point. That took me a year just to see the damn thing. More time to get the car setup to actually turn at that point. What I attempt to explain to my co-workers who don't understand is that everything I have learned to do on the track translates to what I am doing on the street.
What the others have said about adding go fast parts for your first year or so is spot on. Don't do it. Yes, it helps the car but it can retard your own learning. These car don't really need that much help. Until you really understand what is going on with the car, you will have a hard time really knowing if they did any good. I have resisted the temptation to add parts.
Just don't get down when some Z06 comes blasting past you on the straights.. He's got another 100 horses than you and you can get him on the corners...if your smooth and drive the proper line.... fast car slow hands, slow car fast hands.
This sport can be addictive. It sure as hell is fun...
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