My instinct tells me the heat capacity of the cylinder lining isn't something to be concerned about. I assume the faster you can get the heat to the water in the water jackets, the better. That means the thinnest cylinder wall you can get away with would transfer the heat the fastest to the coolant. Thinner should be better.
Make a bowl out of one sheet of aluminum foil, fill it with water and place a blow torch under it to test.
Do the same with an aluminum sauce pan and compare results.