Newbie question - N gauge

There's the big show at Doncaster Racecourse this weekend which will have a good N Gauge presence (including myself).

Joining the N Gauge Society would be a good start.
To get something up and running (not necessarily the final layout) I have had fun using Fleishman track (ready ballasted) and others on this group have recommended the Japanese track (also ready ballasted) . The snag is that it's harder to paint (which you will probably want to do). Peco is widely used and works well, if you have little experience you might try the foam inlay ballast - This is much easier than using loose ballast (although you can add some loose ballast to fill in the gaps, in which case chinchilla sand is cheap and light weight).
I haven't tried other makes of track, or rather I couldnt recommend other makes based on experience.
HTH