Rick,
You pretty much answered everything yourself.
It seems that you have a good bit of knowledge about chassis dynamics.
Now, for my little bit of opinion.
(And it is opinion only, as I am sure that there are many folks on this forum way more knowledgeable than I and more current in the art as well.)
I like low wheel/spring rates.
I like high motion ratios. The dampers need to traverse as much as possible to work well.
I dislike angle in the spring/damper unit as this reduces motion. (See
coilover angle)
The valveing design in F1 dampers (Or any damper that lays down) is the same as a upright damper. You will notice that all of these dampers have a remote reservoir. This is for rebound control and for gas volume. They run some serious pressures in those damping systems. Well over 200 bar.
The above answer is a bit simplistic, but dampers are very complex and they hold the answers to making a chassis work.
No matter if the chassis is as stiff as the proverbial wedding cock or as limp as a noodle, proper dampers can make virtually any chassis work well.
Even a
"REAL" Cobra can be made to work reasonably well on a road course.