Who’s who?
After reading misleading information on the internet, Mr D Phillips asks: “How come Claude Temple was a Brooklands record breaker then later marketed machines as the Temple Anzani, but broke records riding a Montgomery? Then, he appears to have sponsored other riders, including aboard a Zenith, and where does Mr Hagens fit in – was he a racer or sponsor of Claude Temple? All confusing, or were they simply just good time boys at Brooklands for the craic?”
Born in the 1890s, Claude Temple first troubled the Brooklands leaderboard with a second place finish, riding a 989cc HarleyDavidson, to winner Sydney Garrett (994cc Indian) for the OC Godfrey Cup on Saturday, July 10, 1920.
Temple was twice outright world speed record holder, posting on November 6, 1923, 108.41mph (mean) over the flying kilometre at Brooklands riding a 996cc British Anzani, which he simply made faster and faster over the season, then again on September 5, 1926, recording 121.30mph at Arpajon, France, abroad his ownassembled, Anzani-powered OEC-Temple.
He sponsored for a number of years Joe Wright (also a world record holder) aboard machines Temple built and prepared, or in some cases had built and then race prepared. Essentially, Brookkands racing was more about engines and riders than chassis, as the rider/builders used what was readily (sometimes cheaply) available, hence Temple’s use of a Montgomery frame with who he may have been briefly associated (note: Montgomery did build a few Anzanipowered roadsters) at one time, but later Temple moved over to using predominantly OEC built frames, but there was the odd Zenith etc thrown in for good measure too!
For a short time, he offered Temple Anzani and OEC Temple machines from a London address as CF Temple & Co. Ltd., 11 Edgeware Road, Marble Arch. Claude Temple died in 1994, aged 99.
Hubert Hagens was a Belgian born racer and engineer who designed a number of designs for Anzani, including the eight-valve (ohv) V-twins and the ohc V-twins used to good effect by Temple. Hagens didn’t specialise in motorcycle engines, also working on car and aero engineering designs plus other associated and disassociated projects.