I am only a month newer than you.

I got a ton of advice form everyone here. I still am getting advice.
I went to my local Drift Track and was very surprised. It is carpet and about 2.5' wide. I could barely drive around it, never mind drift on it. The cars were mostly rear wheel drive and went so slow. I mean 2 feet per second slow. Really slow. Just too boring for me. As tiny as the track was and as slow as they go I would never last in that kind of drifting.
They were very good at it. Just not for me.
Until I learn more, I am having a ball, out in the parking lot, sliding around some been bags at a faster pace.
I recommend starting out cheap Ready To Run car that you can learn to drive with and have fun or you won't last too long. Look at the videos on the Madspeed Driftking. The brushless RTR will be set up right out of the box. Not for slow competition but for fast fun. Contrary to all the out of date post here, there are a lot of metal updates available. The parent company is
HSP, I think it is. They have parts that fit the Madspeed too. You can do a bunch of stuff and stay under your budget and have fun. I bought a locking rear differential and a oneway front diff. I bought another body and 4 sets of wheels. My 2000mh battery last 20 minutes of hard running. I just bought a Lipo but haven't used it yet.
Good luck.