I think a good place to start really as many have said is get the car, give it a good once over service and fluid change then got some ds2500 front pads and brembo HC discs, fairly cheap and effective and they'll at least stand up to the abuse
Then maybe book some tuition, seems fairly cheap now days as you'll benefit from that in terms of picking your lines and extracting more from your car.
A popular setup seems to be cooksport springs and cup dampers with a set of camber bolts
That setup seems fairly good for the money and will be civil on the road. As said good coilovers come at a price.
I've gone for BC's on the Meg as they get good reviews on the Meg forums, simon at cornering force likes them and I've had a few friends that are more then happy with them and there's a large variety of springs available