It seems intuitive that a shorter sidewall will flex less and race tires have stiff sidewalls, also to reduce flex, still it's interesting, why do some folks prefer taller sidewalls for track work, @zbomb is one? I'm not a fan of ultra low profile rubber but there must be an optimum Trade-Off between performance and sidewall. 996 cup tires are relatively tall.

 

It's like anything we all get involved in, its like drinking thru a fire hose. It takes time to sort thru what works and doesn't work with actual experience. The learning curve speeds up quite a bit if you immerse yourself in the PCA track community.

There is no perfectly right or wrong answer. Just consequences that you have to deal with as it pertains to set-up. But there are common sense practices that develop to save folks time and money.

 

An interesting set of tests on tire width on wheel sizes for track times.