Track days can be intimidating, frustrating, and even deadly if you're not ready. These are the most important things to have beforehand.

Ah, track days! Roughly $200 for a full day of pushing your car to the limit, finally doing all the crazy stuff you can't do on the road! If you're any kind of car guy and/or own any kind of fast car, track days are an essential part of the experience. You may own a 1990's Miata or a brand-new Porsche Taycan Turbo S, but you'll never know how fun it really is until you rip it around the track.

Cheaper than therapy, track days can really let you vent, but they also have their own set of problems and hoops to jump through. If you're not ready for your first track day you may find yourself frustrated, stranded, or even dead. We took our expertise and realized there are five things you absolutely need and five things you really are going to want for the best track day experience possible.

Ah, safety first. A lot of tracks and races have some baseline rules of what you need to be on the track itself, and normally more strict rules to be a part of official races. The most prominent item is a fire extinguisher. That one comes with an elastic harness, costs just $14 on Amazon, and fits almost all safety regulations you'll need to check off.

Other requirements may include things like a roll cage, four- or five-point harness, and driver window net, but we'll discuss these later. On a most basic level, we highly recommend a first aid kit, even if a track is well-watched with safety personnel. For convenience, we recommend tow straps, high-visibility cones, and gear.

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In any instance when you hit the track, you must wear a helmet, even if it's not in the rules (which is very uncommon). They don't have to be too expensive or fancy, you can easily get a decent one on Amazon for $220 by RaceQuip. Some just require a DOT-approved helmet, in which case a riskier (but still up to standard) $55 option exists.

Fireproof or resistant clothes are hot, but not as hot as you could be, so a jumpsuit for about $110 and gloves for $56 are a great start, and RaceQuip also makes those, keeping to almost every track's standards while being affordable. While expense doesn't always mean protection, just be sure they meet standards like DOT and other regulations, and never cut corners.

While some tracks may vary, the crash-course rundown is this: keep to the right for faster cars (US), never bump or nudge other cars, know how to overtake safely and only when signaled, and always be aware of flags. Never get out of your car unless it's on fire, and if it breaks down or has issues, make sure you're not behind a blind corner. For your reference, the most common flag signs you'll see are these:

Also, like on a highway, keep a gap to the car in front of you in case they spin out. Honking, swerving, or flashing lights are never an acceptable way of communicating, be familiar with hand signals. Some track rules and penalties are different so it's absolutely necessary to look online or at their rulebook to be certain you know what you're doing.

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Repairs are a part of pushing your car to the limit, even if it's new, upgraded, or reliable. Be ready to lift your car, bolt and unbolt parts, and even tow the car away if you didn't tow it there. Spare tires are a great idea, but more specifically, here are some tools you'll want on hand:

A socket set, car jack with stands, a torque wrench, duct tape, tire-pressure gauge, work gloves, cleaners, impact wrench (cordless), common fluids, and spare things like brake pads. A tool kit with more specialized tools is useful and one of the greatest conveniences is an air compressor and a way to power it like with an inverter hooked up to a car; this gives you access to impact tools, tire inflating/changing, and even cleaning.

While not always required, there's a reason almost every single track car you see has a roll cage (or roll bar is it's a two-seater convertible). Yes, a cage is sometimes required, but there are more benefits than that. For one, you make your body more rigid which increases performance.

Also, it allows for a chain of other conveniences: It allows you to anchor your four- or five-point racing harness above your shoulder level to avoid breaking your collar bones in a rollover. It's also a requirement to have those harnesses if you want a removable steering wheel since they don't have airbags. The steering wheel is almost unavoidable if you want to be able to get in and still sit in a real racer's position. All that said, you'll be safer and more race-ready with a roll cage installed.

The last thing you want to do is drop cash on a full day of track racing only to realize your brake pads are at 1% or your coolant is low! You can do a simple checkup yourself by checking oil levels, oil quality (translucent, no discoloration), coolant, brake pads, and transmission fluid (same as oil; dark brown or blackish with no particles or discoloration).

The tires are the other beast. If the wear is uneven or you feel wobbly when you try them on, make sure you balance and align them. If it's a continuous problem you'll know and be able to fix it before you're on the track.

Okay, this is an expensive upgrade for a lot of people who aren't prepared to drop $2k on something that'll pull their car, more if they don't have a truck. The fact is, track days are fun... even addicting! You can swear up and down to take it easy but at the end of the day, a car is a car.

Even if you don't own a truck or trailer, have a backup plan for getting your car home, like a rental trailer or tow service. The last thing you want to do is be racing the sunset at night trying to find the best deal to get your car out of there. UHaul offers ways to pull cars, and if you have a truck, there are normally trailer rentals in every city with a track.

Race day can turn into pain real quick if you're fighting to keep yourself upright and in place. Shoving your shin against your door can rub it raw, and a lack of head (helmet) support can leave you with whiplash. A passenger can also find the ride scary and very uncomfortable. All of this can be solved with one or two bucket seats.

They don't just keep you safe. They hold your legs in place, keep your harness above your shoulders, and can even hold a helmet from flopping your head around. When your body moves more solidly with a car, even a rougher ride will actually be less fatiguing and more stomachable when you're not holding yourself up every brake, turn, and acceleration. Such seats can be bought on Amazon for just $250 each and will weigh 15 to 30 lbs less than your typical car's seat.

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Typical street tires will be disappointing and quickly wasted on a track. Not only do they wear out but they'll also let you down on every corner. Performance tires are made to really hold you on rails, and even if you're in a stock Mazda Miata from 1995 you'll notice the difference.

The best setup is to have rims and tires ready to go and haul them with you to the track. In fact, a lot of purist sports cars like the Subaru BRZ (Toyota 86) are made with just enough room to fit four wheels in the back for this very reason. Since the law doesn't apply, feel free to throw on spacers and wider rims and tires to really maximize grip!

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Numbers are an important part of being identifiable on race day. You may be offered magnetic numbers but it's far cooler to have a signature number and design ready to go on your own magnet. If you're actually half good on the track you may want an Instagram tag for admirers to look you up by, on the back window if you're half good.

Special decals and track cars seem to always go hand-in-hand. It's great for business advertising, and a solid windshield visor can really speak for what you stand for. While not necessary, a cool livery is more like an award to yourself. Congrats on your track-ready car!

Wyatt is from Utah and likes to bike, ski, and drive too fast. He's written articles on motorcycles and cars for years, and especially likes Japanese cars and off-road vehicles. He has been featured in DriveTribe more than once and some of his content has had over 6.5 million views. He loves Formula 1, Formula Drift, the Baja 1000, and World Rally Cross!