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When I worked for Associated Spring we did a lot of work on reducing the drag that the valve train put on the the engine. But the spring was the rear end of the weight loss program, not the front end. Lightening all of the other components came first, the valves, rocker arms, then the springs. Lightening the other components meant that the spring had to do less work to turn an opening valve into a closing valve.
The "beehive" springs were more a harmonic problem solver than a weight saver. Springs can do funny things at different operating speeds, and it usually isn't pretty for the engine owner. By lowering the reciprocating mass it lowers the stress at the keeper end. The beehive shave also allows you to operate a little closer to solid height before you get into an overstress condition because the reduced diameter gives a little more clearance on the end coils, but not much.
Ovate wire can also allow you to reduce the concentrated stress levels and spread the stress levels around better and theoretically you could reduce the mass of the spring, but watch your manufacturing costs go way up. Keeping the ovate orientated can be a challenge. Performance car drives aren't too concerned but I doubt you will find this in an economy car.
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