The clutch is one of those components that you might not immediately think of when tuning your car, but it plays an important role in transferring power from the engine to the wheels.What the clutch does is connect your engine to your transmission. When you don't have your foot on the clutch pedal, the clutch connects the engine to the transmission, which in turn connects to your wheels. This means a clutch that can maintain the torque produced by the engine is essential for your car to go anywhere!The main factor that determines whether a clutch is up to the job is how much torque it can hold. Torque is a measure of force. There could be a whole blog post about the relationship between torque and horsepower, but for now, let's keep it simple and say torque is the number of choice for evaluating clutches since modern turbocharged engines can add torque very quickly at low rpm. Any clutch you install needs to be able to handle the torque coming out of the engine.Usually, on a standard engine, a standard factory-installed clutch will do the job. There are exceptions, and the way you drive your car does make a difference. For example, repeated hard starts or clutch kicks during a drift can make your clutch slip instantly.Once you start tuning your engine, especially on a torquey turbo car, at some point you may need an upgrade or a high-performance clutch. The exact timing can be a bit of a gray area, as some vehicles come from the factory with very powerful clutches and transmissions, while others may be just enough to meet the stock torque figures and quickly give up ghosting when the vehicle is remapped. It also depends on how cautious you are with the clutch.
