Originally Posted by BalanBro

From a fluid dynamics standpoint, air/liquid passing through two tubes of equal diameter will experience less resistance in the shorter pipe (i.e. less of a pressure drop=more flow). The advantage of a CAI is pretty much limited to the cold air aspect alone.

As someone had alluded to, it is possible that the dyno setup may have provided sufficient airflow to keep warm air from entering the SRI (or perhaps the water temp was low enough that the thermostat was closed and the radiator didn't really heat the air).

Basically, an SRI can make more power, provided it is somehow shielded from incoming hot air. That said, I do not really see anything special about this design that makes it unique in this regard.