Power = f(t) ?

["Arun Rao" <rao%frisbee@frisbee.pixar.com>]

	I drive my 5000ST every day to work and back, and I notice that
	the car is noticeably more powerful on some days than on others.  There
	is almost certainly a correlation with temperature: afternoons are
	always worse than mornings and hot days are always worse than
	cooler ones.

	My ME friend tells me that high temperature and humidity are
	bad for turbos in general.  He's also an amateur pilot, and
	he mentioned that climb rates were drastically affected by
	temperature and humidity in turbocharged (piston-engined, of course!)
	aircraft.  I was theorizing that it had to do with intercooler
	efficiency: higher ambient temperatures would reduce the heat
	transfer rate.

	Any thoughts, O Knowledgeable Ones?  I would be interested in knowing
	if other people experience similar behavior in their cars.

	-Arun