Old Gordon Dobey of Nissan ex-works mechanic used 10 inch tyres
on their 1000 race cars A10 engined he said peeps laughed at him
using smaller diameters wheel/tyre combos, which lowered center
of gravity and lots mini tyre choices.

He said other racers just blamed his engine a well tuned A10
that spun to 10,000rpm though with ti valves, retainers and
hollowed out camshafts he had gun drilled further than oem.

As for SR20DE, the SR16VE was always better with tune could
put out 220hp all day @ 9000rpm about 20hp more than stock.
Though 500usd a pop a long time ago now are hens teeth :(

that reminds me, small diameter tires were banned in the USA both in NASCAR and when M/T started using them at the Indy 500

Thats good historical stuff, I also recall the earlier f1
cars had pretty small diameters big difference from older
race cars with massive diameters but big torque.