Anyone of you lucky bastards whose sat in one of the Z's happen to notice if the pedals look like they are in a good enough position to get a little heel and toe action goin???
I would like to start AUTO-Xin and good heel and toe skills can shave seconds easy!!

 

I hope you go by, "there is no such thing as a dumb question". Because I've heard the "heal to toe" term and don't know what it means. Can you elaborate?

 

Heel/toe downshifting is simply a way of matching revs as you go down through the gears. Let's say you're braking from a turn and you want to come from third gear down to second... you have the ball of your right foot on the brake, your left foot depresses the clutch and you begin to shift from third to second. As you pass through neutral, use the outside edge of your right foot to rev up the engine before pulling it into second. the concept is to lessen the wear on engine compenents by eliminating the "shock" the occurs during downshifting. You have to heel/toe downshift in cars with dog-tooth gearboxes. it's not required in a car with syncros but it's generally not a bad idea. It also help to keep the car balanced going into a corner. Just dropping the clutch, the car would "buck" and you could lose traction.

NOTE: Some people use their heel, but I find the position awkward... I recommend rolling the ball of your foot so that the right side can mash the accelerator... It also helps to adjust the pedal height too... This is a very difficult technique to master, but good luck!

 

Especially when the pedals are not set up optimally for it. All the reviews I've heard on the Z have mentioned that its set up quite well for heel and toe'ing.

 

Good insight. Thanks!

 

Not to be contrary, but since you said that you are just starting Auto-X, you would get more benefit from learning about apexes, braking, smooth transitions etc than from heel-toe techniques. A good driving school/seminar will do wonders. With the syncros in most modern cars and the fact that most auto-x courses don't have radical speed changes, heel-toe won't buy you much.

To answer you question, several people have mentioned that the metal pedals are setup pretty well for heel-toe.