I was watching air racing superstar Steven Hinton attempt to do what his father had done 38 years before: set the three-kilometer speed record for piston-engine, propeller-driven aircraft.

when compared to the case when the piston motion is finished piston speed and piston diameter, is the order of three thousand, transition to turbulence is observed during the self-induced translation ...

The free piston engine, a design with opposed pistons ... that we’re used to from more conventional designs, and thus the speed of their operation also can’t be controlled.