An engine powered wheeled machine having improved engine over speed and under speed protection includes a parallel path transmission having a gear train with first and second transmission inputs and a transmission output, and including a hydraulic variator having a variator output driving the first transmission input, the hydraulic variator having a variator pump and a variator motor, the displacement of the variator pump being controlled by a variator actuator. The machine further includes an engine having an engine output driving the second transmission input and driving the variator pump and a controller for receiving one or more values indicative of one or more ranges of permissible engine speed, a value indicative of an actual engine speed, and a value indicative of the position of the variator actuator, with the controller being configured to control the position of the variator actuator based on state space gain mapping to maintain the engine speed within the one or more ranges of permissible engine speed.