That was a very, very helpful answer.
The fact that it's a centrifigual clutch (which I had never heard of, but it makes sense) changes my perspective. I assumed we were dealing with a simple friction clutch - which apparently we're not!
Your points and your answers directly addressed my questions and I now believe I understand.
On a related note - I never felt the need to mess with exponentials with electric cars but obviously some people do. Is it any more common to use exponentials in order to soften or harden throttle response near the trigger when dealing with nitro cars?