Your right about the lack of 'ram' effect from the air intake.
The big difference is that the air that is, effectivly, sucked into the engine is substantially cooler than the original intake within the engine bay.
When I installed my Pipercross Viper into my Mk1 F I used 76mm tubing, which just fits the air intake, the increase in pipe diameter results in more air for the engine (I also fitted a 52mm throttle body).
So this setup has to be an improvement on the original setup - colder and greater volume of air = more oxygen for the engine. that,coupled with the substantially less convoluted pipe work gives an easy to measure benefit.
I originally just fitted the larger throttle body and, before resetting, my idle rpm whent from 850 to 1400, due to better 'breathing'. Once this had been reset and setlled down to the 850 mark I fitted the Viper and my idle revs went up to 1500, so both upgrades made a measurable improvement.
Now, back to the position of the intake:
A lot of the K&N setups had pipes going under the car but there are 2 disadvantages to this setup. Firstly, the intake is much lower than fitting to the side vent and, therefore, more likely to suck water into the engine. Secondly, I found a few articles regarding air pressure which stated that, due to the aerodynamics of a car, the underside is an area of negative pressure (which makes sense if you think about it) so is a less efficient area tha he 'neutral' pressure side vents.
My setup is here for for anyone who would like to read the 'how to'
Pipercross Viper Install
It would be better to have a 'ram' effect but I don't see an easy option for placement on our cars