Michi: I also love those old magazine articles, many interesting/funny/silly ideas
I think the monoshock was an idea of mis-understanding.
Among the first to feature monoshock was FS of super champ. The more famous one were 834B, hotshot, etc..
It was around 1985 that mugen, tamiya, yokomo, even hirobo all came up with 1/10 buggies with monoshocks. RC10 has 4 shocks all along, even MIP monoshock mod at the front did not really pick up. I think the reason was: it did not work as good as 2 shocks at the front in the original rc10 design.
It seems that back then, the understanding of the need of droop was not in the Japanese tool box. (while rc10, the US camp has better understanding of it) There was also little practical needs, off-road, even at the world were just hard packed smooth dirt road. Unlike later on, off road = crazy jump, double and triple and so on
With monoshock, as one side is compressed, the otherside got pushed down as a result of weight transfer (would call it a pseudo 'droop'). So to answer the question of
Bloodclod, may be there is really no practical need or functional advantage of incorporating droop into the front monoshock in the 834b. May be the only exception is when there is a very effective anti-roll bar...
One the downside, monoshock, under cornering/weight transfer, straightening the car our of a corner becomes a matter of weight transfer + and - counter-steering. In short, slow response.
My guess is that monoshock has also one major practical advantage: manufacturers save production cost!!
