I suspect they are to make it easier to pull them out. I replace them staggered, around 3 or 4 teeth apart so that they're evenly distributed around the clutch.
If they were all together it would make a 'light spot' that would put the clutch pack out of balance, not sure if it would be enough to cause any problems but considering that the clutch runs at around half engine speed (up to 5k rpm-ish) it might?
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M900, 916, LeMans II.
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