1. The first thing you need to do is decide if it is better to build your car or rent a current car.

Remember that its not just the build cost but the costs of all the little wear and tear items that get worn out every track session.

2. If you have decided to rent a car, ask around and find a car and a renter you are comfortable with. Most renters will have a price that must be payed if the car is damaged beyond repair. On the good side you will not have to worry about maintaining the car.

3. If you have decided to build your own car the most important thing to do is  If your car is built to a stable class then you will never have issues on where to run. We have cars at the track that are dependant on special run groups that may not alway be around.
http://www.caccautosport.org/
http://www.icscc.com/

4. Once you have decided on a class you will need to determine your budget ( This usually determines the car aswell but not always)  It is a good idea to find a car that has aftermarket support if you are on a budget. Its alot cheaper to find race parts for Honda's, camaro's, Mustang's... apposed to a hyundia Pony or a K-car.

5. Decide if you have the ability to build a proper cage or find a good shop that knows our rules or can read the rule book. Once again ASKING around does not hurt.

6. Make sure you set a budget and stick to it. Look for deals on race parts both locally and on line. The same tires can sometimes be bought at 1/2 price if you know where to look. If on a budget you can also find deals on racing  classified web pages.
Places like this always have factory closeout discounts
http://www.racetire.com/
http://www.improvedtouring.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=64

7. Your personal racing gear is a place were a little extra money should be spent. As the saying goes "WHATS YOUR HEAD WORTH"
http://www.saferacer.com/

8. My last personal rule is this "IF YOU CANT AFFORD TO LOSE YOUR CAR YOU SHOULDN'T BE RACING"
and buy this I mean that this is not a cheap sport and if a damaged car is going to bankrupt you or if its a daily driver that you need for work   then volunteer as a corner worker and see the action up close with a great bunch of people.
By no means does anyone want to destroy a car or someone elses but accidents happen. Saying this I feel 10 times safer in my racecar than I do driving down town in rush hour. At least everyone on the track in thinking the same. "GO THAT WAY FAST"

Good luck and welcome

Great advice Chris. None of the racing sanctioning bodies adjust their rules to suit a car that somebody builds outside of the rules. Read the rules! Then build the car. Cacc, Scca and Icscc all have pretty specific rules regarding what may be modified on a car and the required modifications to allow it to run in a specific class. Safety requirements may go up as a result of minor modifications. Check with somebody before you start.

CACC, SCCA and ICSCC all have their regulations posted on-line at their websites. All those regulations provide specific dimensions for tubing.

Unless you're doing the welding yourself I'd recommend on of our local preparation shops (Barry Allen, Specialty, or someone like that). They are good at building cages and also know to ask if there are questions (which there might be depending on the car you are using).

There is a 'Lotus 7' for sale on Craig's list that might work for you, save a lot of time. The car is in Victoria and has no engine or transmission, just waiting for your set up, great deal at $6500!

  With that engine and transaxle set up you need to build a sports racer
                 see SCCA rules for   " C  or  D " sports racers.

cheers

Be very careful if you decide to build a sportracing car. Most of these chassis are certified by SCCA (homologated) to meet certain specifications. You might want to pursue your build on that basis. If you have specific question we can answe, it's better to contact Jim Kurtz or myself outside the forum (sorry guys--don't want to spoil your reading pleasure).

contact me directly at michael_currie@telus.net, or Jim Kurtz's e-mail provided on the sccbc website.

Mike