The car has been tested on clay on September 21st. The overall feel of the car was similar and the points of improvement were still the same: More weight on the rear, try the car with tires that weren't worn and disconnect the stabilizer (as it was clay after all). However, before I could do any of that (apart from disconnecting the stabilizer), the car broke down.
Upon inspection it became clear there is a durability issue with the new suspension arms. A wrong knock during some cartwheeling action broke the arm behind the caster block. Since the new front end was the center piece of the test, I retired the car for the weekend.
Despite the mere 3-4 minutes of track time I did get a good impression of the difference the long shocks make on the car. Like I stated earlier, the overall feel is not very different. However, there is a distinct difference: It seems the car is less bouncy on the front end and more in contact with the surface thanks to the increased droop levels. I think the rear end needs some tweaks (like extra droop and more weight on the rear) to get it properly stable, but it felt pretty good.
To solve the durability issues, I've gone back from the gullwing design to a straight arm. The 3D model was causing problems with every small edit I was making (I won't get into detail on that), and because this requires only one front arm in the spares box once the new front end is approved to stay. It's been ordered, so I should have the car up and running again in two weeks time.
So here it is:
The new arm has inherited the open structure near the outdrives from the gullwing arm, but the area around the caster block is a lot like the first set of arms I had on the car. In fact, the current arms are the most beefed up of all three arms, so durability concerns should be out of the window (again)
The new arms will be able to use the DEX210's shock tower geometry. It will not have as much uptravel as with the gullwing arms, but still enough to bottom out. The droop levels will be the same, being that the suspension arm (thus also the shock) are limited in angle by the chassis plate.