Thanks, practice in a slow car has made me a lot faster, but always room to improve still!
Hillclimbs, autocrosses and track days all just generally need a fire extinguisher, overalls and a helmet. Ohh and you need to be a member of a motorsport NZ affiliated club and then a motorsport license, both these things are easy to sort out though. Very few hillclimbs/sprints require a cage, it's generally only when the road is quite dangerous (ie like Shelly Bay in Wellington which is cliffs on one side and ocean on the other).