Where does the track rabbit hole lead?
 

I had my first track day on Thursday, lead-follow at Mid Ohio with the Club layout. First session was dry, then it rained quite a bit. The rain stopped by the second session, but it was still a very wet track and I managed to spin out coming out of T12 (with no harm being done). By the third session the track was starting to dry out.

Interestingly enough I found the wet and damp sessions to be much more engaging. Sure, the dry session was fun in pushing the car more than on the street, but in the wet I really felt that I needed to control the car well and be extra focused.

This leads me to think that I will enjoy improving my driving skills, so some schooling and potentially coaching is the next thing I'll be looking into.

But that begs the question - where do I proceed with the track? I don't think I'll want to do any competitive driving and especially not wheel-to-wheel racing.

This leaves tracking for leisure. Does this boil down to schools, coaching and open lapping? I know Mid Ohio School offers all of that, as well as other groups (AutoInterests was recommended to me, and I know there are plenty others that also operate in Mid Ohio). There are also car clubs (like PCA, BMW CCA, etc.) but I'm not sure if they are applicable if I don't have an appropriate car.

Am I missing anything here? What are some thoughts of more experienced track rats?

The rabbit hole is deep…..
Very deep.
No turning back.

track days are a hobby within the car hobby. and it will always go just a bit deeper than where you're currently at, and will come first with acknowledging your personal situations limitations-- like for instance, needing to use the vehicle to leave the event, and on the street will have some limitations that a track-only vehicle won't have.

Time Trials

Basically open lapping with a stop watch and a ruleset and a pat on the back if you do well. SCCA and Gridlife will have events local to you that pull good numbers and good atmosphere, might be others. It'll be as serious as you make it, thousands of people are happy with hpde/open lapping groups.

You can take any car to any of those clubs as long as it meets their requirements, ie. no convertibles at the BMW clubs. I've driven my BMW with PCA clubs and am taking my FR-S to BMW clubs. Get out there and enjoy!

For sure. I don't think I'll be in a position to have a dedicated track car for quite a while, so there will always be street compromises.

Interesting, I didn't know what's the etiquette of these groups, thanks!

The hole leads to nirvana.

Drive your car stock until you think that you are better than the car. Then start the SLOW prosses of getting the car a little better at a time. You will learn more about the car and yourself in small steps.
Always use an instructor when you can. Have one drive your car to see how much your car can do, then ride with you to help you get there.

Definitely. I'm also in the (lucky?) small minority that like the FA20 as it is, so no rushing for more power. Currently I have some stiffer bushings/inserts and that's about it. I'm still on the stock Primacy as well, and the only track focused preparation I did was ATE Typ 200 and (used) Winmax W5 pads (which were total overkill, especially with the wet sessions).
I do plan for more sticky tires once the Primacies wear out, and after that some suspension mods, but that's definitely will be taken into account as part of any instruction on the track.

Get an oil cooler and maybe front camber bolts, and you're all set for a while!

Turn the nannies off on the track while you have the stock tires on. You can work on your car control at lower breakaway speeds.

You probably do not get the full experience of HPDE until you have in car instruction. I've had excellent luck getting assigned great instructors and learned things from them that I would have had difficulty figuring out on my own. I now drive in DE2 with NASA and will probably be solo next event. Aside from the driving, being at an event is like being around 300-400 of your best friends. Always someone to talk to and learn from.

Time trials, amateur racing (club) and track days (HPDE or lapping or whatever you call it). Before you get into amateur racing (wheel to wheel), you should do a lot of lapping, get some coaching and better yourself as a driver. You can, however, start time trialing right away, you will get better as you do it and you will have other people with similar cars competing with you and that will serve as a kind of measuring stick as well as some extra motivation (not that we need any most of the time).

track day -> more track days -> mods -> question if it is all worth it ->truck and trailer -> question if it is all worth it -> dedicated track car -> question if it is all worth it -> time trials -> question if it is all worth it -> wheel to wheel -> question if it is all worth it -> quit -> repeat

I didn't go that route as I didn't really enjoy the track days that I did early on (I think things are a lot more novice friendly now) and ended up getting hooked on autocross, but that's the path.

Join COMSCC and run Watkins Glen with us September 13/14! COM is a driver school and time trial club. Day 1 is driver school, you would be assigned an instructor. If you are an absolute beginner you likely won't be signed-off to run solo which is required for day 2 (practice and time trials) but you would be refunded for that if you do sign up for it.

FT86 is a great dual-purpose car. With minimal mods you can go pretty fast at the track while maintaining streetability. For sure you'll want some front camber. Offset upper strut mounts and camber bolts will help a lot for minimal $$$/effort. Suitable tires are a good idea of course. Hankook RS4s are a good choice if tire life is a big concern. Falken RT660 are probably the best reasonably priced track tires out now. Yoko A052 are the fastest/best for a handful of laps, perfect for time trials. Nankang CR-1 have phenomenal grip but quite heavy, ~0.5 sec slower. Other options out there as well. if you're on the OEM tires you might consider upgrading!

You don't need an oil cooler for casual occasional track usage, and IMO the downsides outweigh the supposed benefits. Use good 30 or 40 weight full synthetic during track season and change it every ~6 track hours, you'll be fine.