Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Brands Hatch Indy is a brilliant track, it's short but that helps you get more practice on each corner and learn all the braking points and lines.

Car: I'd say drop the tyre pressures about 5psi before you get there or at the track. They're going to get hotter than normal so the pressures will end up higher than on the road, which you want to account for.

Check the fluids at the start of the day, after lunch break(when it's had time to cool down), and before you go home.

Park in gear, leave the handbrake off, the handbrake shoes can get stuck on because your brakes have got much hotter than normal.

Check your wheel bolts ever time you come back in, if you have a torque wrench take it with you.

You: drink water after each session out on track, you're going to sweat way more than normal.

I also find it helps to eat little and often rather than eating a big lunch.

This is your first track day so I don't want to overwhelm you with pointers specifically for Brands, instead here's some good general trackday pointers:

Build yourself up over the course of the day, slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

There's going to be much faster cars on track so keep an eye on your mirrors, but don't stay glued to them. If you spend your whole day letting people past, you won't really get to practice proper lines.

If a car has caught you up, even if it looks like it's got 50bhp, it's faster than you, just let it past when it's safe and convenient to do so.

If there's a lot of traffic and you're just getting stuck letting people past or getting stuck behind slower cars, just go into the pits and come straight back out. You'll come out in a different sequence of cars and sometimes it can be the difference between getting frustrated and having the best day.

After the sighting laps, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO THE SIGHTING LAPS!!, come in and have a sit down and just gather your thoughts for 30 minutes. The first 30-45 minutes of open track is manic. Everyone's chomping to get out and I've seen some batshit driving with some people trying to swing their dicks around. Let them piss each other off and just have a little sit, watch some cars going round, have a look at a few lines that people are taking, then after 30 mins go out on track. It'll be a lot more settled and sensible driving at that point.

One Brands specific point I will say about letting people past and overtaking:

The short uphill stretch between Paddock and Druids, faster people will want to bully past you, but you don't have to let people past there unless you feel there's a long line behind you.

However between Druids and Graham Hill, the good line is drifting left from Druids to right at Graham Hill. So, it's easy for people to overtake you off-line, so let them past if you can. Stick to the racing line but put your indicator on, they'll work it out and come past before you start braking for Graham Hill.

If you can get instruction, I recommend it, and if you see someone who looks like they know what they're doing then ask for a passenger ride so you can see their lines. Everyone's friendly and if you ask someone for a passenger ride they're most likely going to say yes because at a bare minimum you're giving their ego a good stroke.

Last of all, have fun!! Which day are you going?