LRC REVIEW: Ascendancy Effortless Clutch System

0 Aug. 19, 2011, 4:59 a.m.

08/19/2011
By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

When it comes to nitro racing, there is one thing you want to work...and work good, your clutch. Clutches can make or break the overall feel and performance of a car, not to mention a poor clutch can end a race with broken springs, etc. While clutches are one of the most important and vital parts to an engine's overall performance, they can also be one of the most difficult and frustrating parts to work on.

The guys over at Ascendancy Racing hooked us up with one of their all-new Effortless Clutch Systems. The words "effortless" and "clutch" didn't seem to be fit for the same sentence until we got our hands on this bad boy.

The Ascendancy Effortless Clutch system is a 4-shoe system that is designed to take away the frustration of prying apart clutch shoes and bending springs to snap in place. With the Effortless Clutch System they claim it is as easy as "Placing the clutch shoes with springs over the flywheel posts, place the outer clutch retainer over the assembly with spring posts, and give the retainer a twist". We decided to put this to the test.

IN THE PITS
We started off by applying the clutch system to our very own test car. Using the special tool included, we had the clutch on in no time. We have been through 100's of clutches over the years however, so we felt we might not be giving the Effortless Clutch a fair test. So we handed the Effortless Clutch System to one of our local first year racer's (who has NEVER changed his clutch and was in severe need of a new one). He took the bundle of parts, the instruction sheet, and started in. It took him almost 30 minutes to remove his original worn out clutch, breaking our screwdriver, and nearly losing an eye with flying clutch springs. To our surprise, he had the Effortless Clutch System on the car and was on the track before we could get back from the concession stand with our popcorn and soda to watch the show!

The Effortless Clutch System lived up to it's word off the track, but it was time we put it to the test ON the track.

ON THE TRACK
Equipped with the 1.1 springs and aluminum shoes (replacing our exact original clutch setup), we headed out to the track. On the track the Effortless Clutch System had great acceleration and had the perfect "hit" we were looking for. We played around with tuning some, and for our test track (wet, high traction, loamy) we ended up back with our original aluminum shoes and 1.1 silver springs. This setup hit the hardest and had us powering out of the corners strong.

Needless to say, we ran tank after tank on our car, and then our first year racer ran the clutch for nearly an hour straight (and would have continued had his receiver pack not died and resulted in a run-away). With more than enough time to show serious wear on a stock clutch, the Ascendancy clutch system was still looking and feeling fresh.

LIVERC BEACON RATING

We give the all-new Ascendancy Effortless Clutch system 4 out of 5 beacons. We had to spend a little extra time finding instructions, spring rates, and tuning online to print out as they are not included in the kit, however, once we got everything all setup and out on the track we were thoroughly impressed with the performance and lack of frustration it saved us during installation!

Check out the all-new Ascendancy Effortless Clutch system for yourself by visiting them online at www.AscendancyRC.com.

Ascendancy Racing Effortless Clutch System (34mm)
Part Number: 00034BK
Includes: