Just curious about "zero droop"

As I've probably mentioned before, my Van Diemen RF89 should probably be called a "Van Diemen RF89 Special" due to the fact that a previous owner of the car crashed it heavily and when it was repaired, the entire front suspension was redesigned.



For that reason, I'm not actually trying to chase the exact factory setup for the front end as outlined in a package I got from Van Diemen International.



But this paragraph from the initial setup notes struck me:

5 April 19089

Van Diemen RF89 FF1600

Front: Run car at zero droop, which is adjusted on the front pushrods. It is important not to have pre-load on the front springs, therefore, having set the ride height in the usual way, back off the front springs (with driver and half-fuel load) until the car drops below ride height, then carefully wind up the spring platforms until the car just reaches the recommended ride height position.

First, as I understand "zero droop", I don't see how you can follow those instructions. In order to have zero droop, you have to have at least as much pre-load in the spring with the damper fully extended as the corner weight of the car places on it via the pushrod and bellcranks.



IOW, you have zero pre-load or zero droop, but not both.



Second, what exactly does a zero droop suspension buy you in a car with significant aerodynamic downforce? Where downforce is involved, a zero droop setup let's you preload the suspension to limit the amount that the car is driven down by aerodynamic forces, but I'm struggling to form picture of what it does for a non-aero car such as a Formula Ford.



The only thing I can sort of see (and I have no idea if I'm right, is that you initially get a front end that can be set up to give good initial turn in—perhaps even a little oversteerish at turn-in, but which, as soon as the weight begins to transfer, starts to move towards a more understeering balance for mid-corner and exit.



Can anyone shed a little light?