Am I wrong in thinking that a ram intake will force air through a filter? George ( down under)

 

Ram air will certainly help air move through a filter, but it will still be at a lower pressure than it would be if the filter was not there.  The most common, and successful ram air filter I can think of is on almost every RV.  Van designed a filter box that uses pressure recovery to minimize the performance penalty of using a filter.  I believe they claim that they only lose .5 in hg over ambient.  Of course that same ram air could have gained them ??? over ambient without the filter.  

 

Rusty (3" under ambient without a filter)