Theres a few words of wisdom I found useful,
1) Go out with a friend or someone from the car park, (Bridge to Gantry boys will always want to go out). They don't need to be good, its for you to feel how the track is. No amount of Gran turismo can give you the sense of how steep parts are and the feeling of being an inch from a 911 GT3 on full chat on a corner.
2) Dont be scared, I am always nervous driving through the barrier to start but once you get going and head under the bridge, dont be scared. If you are scared you are more likely to make a move that is unexpected to the car behind.
3) Stay to the right when theres traffic, I am no way a ring veteran so I usually slow to let the faster guys past (EVEN IF THERE IN A "SLOWER CAR"). I have had clio sports come flying up to me on the straights
only to hear a huge blow off noise as the come past doing 40 mph more then me. Nothing at the ring should be under estimated.
4) Dont "go for it" on your first lap... dont "go for it" on your 30th lap... just slowly get more acquainted to the track, getting more confident, learning sections, learnign conditions, learning how the car moves around on the tyre, how the tyres and brakes start to fade away towards the end of the lap etc. etc.
5) Its mint... I love it... Im not the fastest but I have one of the largest smiles on my face.