In fact, dedicated drag racing clutches, known as "Adjustable" or "Slipper" clutches, are designed to slip. Some of the quickest drag racing cars on the planet, like Top Fuel and Funny Car, use multi-disc clutches to achieve the perfect amount of slip.
Before The BangShift Billy, racers had 3 options to achieve a slipping clutch:
- Switch to an adjustable clutch
- Use your foot to manually slip a street-style diaphragm clutch
- Use a hydraulic release valve
There are pros and cons to each option. Let's discuss some of those.
Switch to an adjustable clutch
Fully adjustable clutches are very consistent and reliable in race cars. For many, this is a great option. However, fully adjustable clutches have several cons for street-driven vehicles. Those include:
- Cost
- An adjustable clutch can require a new bellhousing, release bearing, release system, cutting up the floor of your car, and more.
- Maintenance
- Your clutch's track settings will be different than your street settings. To make changes to an adjustable clutch, it's common to jack up you car, then crawl underneath to add base and/or counterweight. It can be a two-person job unless you can engage the starter from under the car.
- Complexity
- Dialing in an adjustable clutch can be fairly complex. Like all aspects of drag racing, adjusting your clutch will take a lot of trial and error. Jacking up your car after every pass is not a desirable trait for most street cars.
With The BangShift Billy, you don't need to switch to an adjustable clutch. You can use it to slip the diaphragm clutch you already have!
Slip a street-style diaphragm clutch manually with your foot
In theory, it's possible to perfectly slip a diaphragm clutch with your foot for great launches. However, to repeat the exact slip pass after pass would require superhuman driving ability. A large part of racing is removing as much room for error as possible. It's the same reason we use devices like a 2-step to ensure we're leaving the starting line as consistently as possible.
The BangShift Billy allows us to remove that room for error.
Use a hydraulic release valve
There have been hydraulic release valves on the market for years. They slow the movement of fluid in your hydraulic clutch release system to allow for controlled clutch slip. These valves work similarly to The BangShift Billy.
However, The BangShift Billy has two huge advantages over existing competitors:
- You can fully adjust The BangShift Billy without leaving the driver's seat using our convenient app.
- It's a adjustable down to the millisecond.
With The BangShift Billy you can have the best of everything. A clutch that works great on the street and the track with the click of a button.