This was the 797 car, in '04. Somewhere I have pics of how we got the front end so low (tunnels cut into frame/aprons so we could clock the hybrid transaxle 22 degrees...in order to get axle angles to work.) I'll try to put some of those in here, if anyone is interested. That car was actually built to accept up to 29" front tires at the ground clearance shown! Our best speed was with 26" front and 25" rear.
We could not go lower because the car comes stock with "spats" in front of the front tires, and we had them lightly touching the salt. It was hoped to bring the car back for a run at the H/Production record, but a VERY BIG crash in Japan (in 2005) pretty well ended the car. It's back together and looks like original, but will never race again.
There will probably be some interesting new cars, in the years ahead, with small frontal area and great aero (such as the new Honda Insight, which looks like a scaled down Prius). Food for thought: The '04 car had a best speed of about 135 mph on about 120-130 total horsepower. That engine was stock, running through stock manifolds, air cleaner, catalytic converter, muffler, etc. Because the project didn't get final "go" until Spring '04, there was no time to try pumping up the engine or electric transaxle. That car was a slippery little thing!
It'll be fun to see how Terry's Prius works out.