i also agree with the clutch packs, and the fact that if you build this engine and turbo it as some on other forums have said the NYTRO motor will do 450hp when its built and turbo'd, with that kinda power it will eliminate the ability to use some of the gears. you will blow right thru 1st and 2nd so fast you cant make the shifter shift fast enough. i think an electronically operated version would be super legit, using an AEM stand alone to control the blow off valve and wastegate and engine tuning as well as an electronic solenoid shifting for you. the AEM will have the ability to sense load and RPM and can kill timing for the split second to allow the solenoid to shift the trans. but thats just an idea and i am sure someone down the road will have all sorts of cool electronics in this thing. in this video you can see many things...
1) the guy uses the clutch once, maybe twice in the whole video
2) almost every single gear change you can see his knee propped up against the door and never moving. meaning he isnt hitting the clutch pedal to shift
3) you can see the clutch pack looks just like a dirt bike clutch assembly, only much much bigger and twice as many plates.
if this is truly a fully manual clutch, like a bike, and you are supposed to press the clutch between every shift, BUT it has the ability to let you jam the gear, its going to smoke the clutch packs in a short amount of time. too much weight, too much load, and too much RPM to jam those guys without using the clutch. they could easily use an electronic system to kill the timing for a split second between shifts so you arent actually having a full throttle powered upshift. i found out years ago after building one of my trucks and playing with the trans tuning, a full throttle powered upshift will rip the material off the plates in the auto trans in a toyota tundra. you have to have the engine cut out for a split second between the upshift, in order for the trans to shift and not be under power otherwise youll wear clutch packs out fast. I dont think anybody knows this info yet, as to how yamaha did it, or how it is, or how it works. i can only speculate and hope they used their heads on it.
and before you yamaha loyalists say yamaha always uses their heads..... how'd that work out for you in the rhinos? how many sets of wet clutches did you burn up? they were so smart they stuffed an ATV engine/trans out of a 650lb ATV and put it directly into a 1300lb SxS and werent even smart enough to re-gear the trans to a lower ratio. which is why the rhinos burnt up wet clutches faster than it used brake pads.