A mixing and combustion process for a compression ignition engine (10) creates an in-cylinder compressed gas charge of air and recirculated exhaust that has a temperature high enough to initiate and sustain combustion of diesel fuel that is subsequently injected. A fuel injector (26) injects diesel fuel directly into the charge using an injection pressure that is sufficiently great to cause fuel to be injected through each of multiple orifices arranged in a geometric pattern in a nozzle (42) of the fuel injector at an initial velocity that is great enough to cause the injected fuel in moving through the compressed gas charge to creates fuel/charge mixtures throughout a substantial portion of the respective combustion chamber before the kinematics of combustion can become effective to combust more than at most a relatively small amount of the injected fuel.