I've been to a few of full scale autogyro meets and it's very impressive to watch the things those guys do. The pre-rotors that I have seen are a friction disk that is manually or semi-automaticly engaged. I don't think they apply much torque as it takes a lengthy time to get the rotor up to speed. I believe they compensate the torque with the rudder. If you notice most have a large rudder and it's so close to that pusher prop it must have tremendous control with the prop wash. Also, in these videos thay had 10 to 15 mph winds.

Bill, when you get here to Florida, I'll fix you up with a ride in one of the twin seat gyros and you can witness it up close.

Phil