300bhp/ton said:
300... I understand what you are trying to say but air pressure and air temperature are DIRECTLY PHYSICALLY related. You absolutely cannot talk about one without specifying the other or you have no information.
Intake temperature affects air density, pressurization devices (possibly even ram air systems) affect air density... If air density was not affected neither would be important to a recip engine.
In moderate climates cold air intakes (and as the guy to tried to 'correct' was trying to say, a ram air is really just a version of a CAI) do not have huge affects. However, in very hot climates they have a huge impact to performance.
Your point that ram air systems don't make much (if any) performance gains is generally accurate. However, if they did not work you would not see them on drag cars, F1 cars and nearly every other type of race car that they are allowed on. No one would take the parasitic drag of the scoop if it did not help. Team Honda's enginneers, et al. are a little bit more up on this stuff that you or I.
Now, in bad weather they are not so good. Most of the factory ram air systems had some type of baffling to allow the water to seperate and drain off. (Submarining the car was not accounted for