THE TEAMS
Place/Haworth
Dick Place and Don Haworth are from the Midlands in Britain. Don a quiet and creative machinist that turned his talents to all forms of control line racing engines. Dick, the pilot, talked a little more but both self-effacing guys that seemed to win even when they went slow. The picture shows Place's "Nova II" model.
At the end of the 1964 World Champs they tore down their engine while Peter B and I watched. The Eta, an engine they used for most FAI racing they did, had a terrible problem with the spacer that separated the races of the front and aft crankshaft ball bearing. Too short by one or two thou and the whole assembly would not turn over, too long and everything came loose. Pete had, in desperation made a new front end with a dog screw to hold things down. He examined the front end play and asked "How do you keep the tolerance when you reassemble it?" Place grinned "We never take it to bits! Everything is held firmly in place with British Racing rust!"
The engine they developed form the Eta was, however, a significant advance. By 1966 the cylinder exterior muff (fins) was like that of Mans Hagberg's, a shrink fit to the liner. The front end a separately lubricated part with a refillable oil reservoir.
A lot of racing experience in both FAI and English 1/2 A gave them the ability to set up and go racing almost anywhere and make very few mistakes. The FAI T/R aircraft flown in English competitions had to use mufflers! They could fly both one and two-stop races. Never the fastest, they just kept on, and one bad pit stop or setting would do you in.
World Champions, Budaörs 1964.
