Mark the cup racer's have their engine mounts attach to the subframe which iirc lowers the engine a little too.
I think Nick (your Nick) had that PDF thing of the cup race cars, in that i think it might show the race car engine mounts so you could maybe show Mik those picture and get him to make you some mounts like those! Or have ones with a similar concept!
Make the engine bay look even more sparce!!!! I have seen cup racer cars with carbon firbre cover where the verniers were so if you wanted them to be on show then you could get a thin plastic cover for them. Just protecting them from stones!
Youtube link to the Carbon firbre cover i was talking about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFVjmQGfXCw