ya, i kinda thought so too. The book i took it from "Vehicle and Engine technology 2nd Edition" talked breifly on turbocharging and intercooling compared to the rest of the book. I'll dig around and see what i can find on the tests as far as controls. would you like me to PM them to you, or post them in here? The book mostly discusses engine design and theories. so i thought i would throw that little tid bit in there from the book.
As far as being moronic for them to use engine coolant.. heh, well lets take a look at all the moronic things car manufacturers do to their engines... (pcv, emissions regulations, restrictive intake, restrictive exahust, poor manifold designs) lets face it, if car manufacturers were efficient in everything they did, we would be out of a hobby. I think that sometimes car manufacturers are more concerned about economic and emission requirements moreover efficiency. just a thought
I do beleive however, and maybe i didn't stress this, that liquid-air IC's do hold much greater effiency than do Air-air. and i furthermore agree with you that a means to cool the liquid (through chemical, thermal, radiant, or convectional methods) is necessary for a good L-A IC.