I may be missing something obvious but I'm wondering why some run thier D-Specs stiffer in the front. Shouldn't the damping "match" the spring rate? The springs are stiffer in back, so why not stiffen the shocks in the back a bit vs. the front.

 

The stiffer the back the more oversteer you will get. The stiffer the front the more understeer. Some people want less oversteer, so they stiffen the front to get more understeer instead. G's are more prone to oversteer in my experience.

 

They are prone to understeer in stock form. Modern cars, for the most part, are designed this way. Actually, My sedan in stock form would understeer than snap back and go into oversteer.

 

Ours, like most understeer in stock form - but in any case I would think understeer/oversteer would be best adjusted with the sways, not shock settings.

 

Damper settings will alter the dynamic handling of the cars; sways and spring rates determine steady-state handling.

Dampeners affect the understeer/oversteer bias when perfoming manuevers such as a slolam or corner entry/exit. In these cases the body is rolling and the suspension is in motion - this is when the dampeners do their work and can establish their understeer/oversteer bias in these transition states.

The overall spring rates and sway settings affect how the car behaves in a long corner after the suspension has fully been compressed. The weight transfer (or understeer/oversteer bias) of the car now depends on the spring rates and sway bars as the dampeners have no effect when the springs aren't moving.

These are simplistic examples, but should give you an idea of what the dampeners (aka shocks) are doing vs the sways.

To answer the original question though, from what I can tell, many autox and track enthusiasts prefer a little understeer, especially in the slolam type situations. It is typically a more predictable condition to deal with on the course. Having the front dampeners a little stiffer gives a little quicker initial turn in and provides a slight understeer bias in the transition states.

 

weight transfer during hard cornering