MT engine wear fear (concerned about high engine RPM at highway speeds)

[Tinker1980]

Don't worry so much about the RPM - instead, consider how fast the pistons themselves are moving.

At 3200 RPM, our Mirage engine is moving the pistons at ~1889 feet per minute, or 9.6 meters per second. Lets call it about 21 mph.

That's easy to handle. The pistons themselves don't even move as fast as the car does.

Lets play games with numbers, however. At 6500 RPM, the pistons are going 3838 feet per minute, or 19.5 meters per second, or 43 mph. Not so fast now, is it?

Lets go firmly into the realm of the absurd - I have a Nitromethane powered RC truck. It has a single cylinder two-stroke glow engine that ticks over about 50,000 rpm. The piston speed is 4822 feet per minute - about 24.5 meters per second, or 54 mph.

The Mirage engine will be fine.