How can I speed up response to http requests from browser on VirtualBox guest to server on host

Question

I am using port forwarding to make the web server on a VirtualBox guest (Ubuntu 10.04) accessible from the VirtualBox host (Windows Vista x64) and other machines on my network.

It works, but responses are very slow. I am doing the same port forwarding for ssh, and ssh access is very fast.

Here are the commands I used to set up the forwarding

VBoxManage setextradata ubuntu-nbr  "VBoxInternal/Devices/e1000/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/Protocol" TCP
VBoxManage setextradata ubuntu-nbr  "VBoxInternal/Devices/e1000/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/GuestPort" 22
VBoxManage setextradata ubuntu-nbr  "VBoxInternal/Devices/e1000/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/HostPort" 2222

VBoxManage setextradata ubuntu-nbr  "VBoxInternal/Devices/e1000/0/LUN#0/Config/http/Protocol" TCP
VBoxManage setextradata ubuntu-nbr  "VBoxInternal/Devices/e1000/0/LUN#0/Config/http/GuestPort" 3000
VBoxManage setextradata ubuntu-nbr  "VBoxInternal/Devices/e1000/0/LUN#0/Config/http/HostPort" 3333

What steps can I take to speed up the response?