[Christ]

Yep, seen plenty of engines that "expired" from detonation.

Why are you talking about racing engines on a forum dedicated to fuel efficiency? I'm not really into humoring it, but noone has ever said (to my recollection) that you get more power per cycle with warmer air. The reduced pumping losses make the engine more EFFICIENT, not more powerful. Reduced pumping losses, to an extent, also account for a large percentage of the power lost due to the thinner air taken in.

So you're out for maximum power in any situation? Try tuning for WOT. Sure, at WOT, colder air is much better for making power (not always, but yeah...), but during the normal drive cycle, how many times are you using the engine's full potential? I mean, honestly - do you rev your gasser to 6k and shift from every red light? If you do, methinks you're on the wrong forum, bud.

The idea is a breakdown of efficiency per volume. Since we all know it takes power to make power, and power is always lost in the conversion, and it always takes the same amount of power to do the same amount of work, the only real variable is the amount of energy that is lost converting the source to the motive force, which are frictional and pumping losses (among others). The idea is to use what you have more efficiently, not create more of something you already have an excess of.

The most efficient setup would leave the operator able to operate at WOT and maintain a steady speed/power output. That would be a diesel engine, in most cases, although throttle-less gas engines are apparently also in production now.

In the case of gassers, there is always the option to make a variable intake system, and it's not even that difficult. The average DIY'er can do it with a few hours' labor and some salvage parts. When this is the case, the variable intake temp can lead to the availability of excess power as well as higher efficiency, simply by changing the intake flow temperature to suit your needs.

So again, what's so hard to understand about using warmer air? I'm afraid I don't see where the cold air argument is relevant to our goals here at EcoModder?