UNDER PRESSURE

It is a visceral pleasure to examine a piston from a modern high-performance motorcycle engine such as Ducati’s V4 R. This is because it is the flow of stress that defines shape, just as the smooth flow of air gives grace to an engine’s intake ports.

Once the task of cylinder-filling is fully optimized, the key to more engine power is ever-higher rpm. From the earliest days of motoring, the need to abruptly