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First, assume that you will hit a bump some day, and everything suddenly goes nose-up. It has happened to the best of 'em, but planning for it is not a performance penalty at all. What you need is a stable glider that will land just a tad nose high in ground effect. Now, once you have that basic problem solved, you only need to pay for enough down force for traction. You can design for minimum drag, and dial in a bit more traction by adjusting the rake if you need it.
If you need a lot of downforce, and are not bound by rules, a wing is probably the most efficient solution outside of a sucker car. The ideal run probably uses more downforce for acceleration than top speed.
I don't think the Railton was planned for downforce - people were still perplexed by lift on various streamliners a decade later.
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