Ooo vedjo01, I can attempt to answer your interesting questions but I fear that I will soon be out of my depth on the technical front.

What I do understand is that achieving the optimum performance from an engine is a very fine balancing act.

It is possible to get engines to produce higher internal piston speeds simply by getting the engine to rev faster or increasing the length of the stroke or both. What is more difficult to understand is the effect of piston speed on forces acting internally on the mechanical components. Because momentum increases as speed increases, the forces acting on the mechanical components increase accordingly making them more susceptible to stress failure. So, if you're to increase the speed of the piston then one has to make the piston and associated components as light (and strong) as possible to withstand these forces, yet at the same time, also strong enough to cope with the force of combustion.

I don't think that by increasing piston speeds you will necessarily lose torque; torque is a product of displacement and not piston speed. Increasing piston speed will produce more power since this is a product of either:

- Stroke length
- RPM

I reckon, the main consideration when it comes to upping piston speed is the increased likelyhood of mechanical failure. Low range and mid-range torque is a different factor altogether.

Interestingly, here are some other piston speeds to put things into perspective:

1098 S 64.7 2.55 9750 21.05
GSX-R 1000 59 2.32 12000 23.57
F1 2400cc 39.75 1.565 19000 25.18

I don't know of an engine that has piston speeds much higher than 25.5 ms-1.