After becoming unbeatable at home aged 6 at any driving games on PlayStation and Scalextric, Maurice was taken to the Daytona Manchester soon after his 8th birthday, where he drove for the first time on the short novice circuit. His first drive was only 20 minutes, but it was quick enough to be promoted to the intermediate circuit.
Maurice was just having fun, and pushing the boundaries, trading feedback with his Dad, going over the limits to find the limits of grip. Upon graduating to the advanced circuit, he could start racing. Maurice then moved to outdoor racing at Daytona Milton Keynes and Surrey, where the larger outdoor circuits with faster sweeping corners suited his small physique better than hustling a kart around a tight indoor circuit. He was the fastest, until the rain came down and he wasn't heavy enough to generate grip over the rear tyres.
Hire karts are notoriously hard to drive in wet conditions with slick tyres, especially when you’re so short and light that with the seat so far forwards to reach the pedals, you’ve not got enough weight over the rear tyres. This meant that with every touch of the throttle the kart wanted to spin and so he had to be gentle with all his inputs - but he still managed to beat all but largest and tallest driver. Therefore he’d have to get his own kart and get it set up around his small size.
He practiced over the winter and passed his ARKS licence test in March 2014 and then began racing at Hooton and Wombwell, where he won the 2014 South Yorkshire Kart Club Honda Cadet MSA Championship!
It was decided that from 2015 onwards Maurice would compete in larger grids. Maurice had a trial with Luke Hines' Allstars team in a rain-soaked race at PFI. Despite needing some more testing to adapt to the toughest and largest karting circuit in the UK, Maurice was accepted into the team for 2015 and switched to the team's Zip Eagle chassis.
Despite our minimalist approach to karting, just to explore motor racing, Maurice went on to further karting championship successes. Take a look around the website to find out more about this and his transition to car racing where further success has been achieved!
On moving to cars, Maurice is purely self taught. However, Maurice received coaching when he was karting.
In Karting, Maurice's coach and mentor was Luke Hines, his focus is on young drivers who show potential but don't necessarily have the budget that motorsport can consume and he is known for his rapport with young cadet drivers.
Luke is an experienced racing driver who has raced around the world in many classes from driving Porsche at American Le Mans to SEAT BTCC factory driver, with GT championship drives in Ferraris, Ginettas and Panoz, to name but a few. Luke's father is karting legend Martin Hines, the founder of Zip Kart and who was instrumental in developing top British drivers including David Coulthard, Lewis Hamilton, Jason Plato, Anthony Davidson, Gary Paffett and Luke Hines, amongst many others.
Luke Hines has said the following about Maurice:
"To compete with the best in the country takes a lot of hard work and it takes a long time to develop. Maurice is competing against some drivers who started as early as 5 years old. Maurice has worked hard this season. He listens to instruction and you can see him applying what he's being taught. He's gained in confidence to provide feedback on how the kart is handling and his preferential set-up.
I liked when he came back into the awning and put the caster back on the kart himself. He went faster with the caster on. I was surprised he noticed the minor adjustment we made to the brakes and wanted it returned to how it was before! Maurice can have a career in motorsport if he really wants it, which he clearly does. Whether that be in single seaters or sports cars as a driver, or as an engineer. I believe he has the ability if he continues to work hard, which he will because he enjoys it."
2014 South Yorkshire Kart Club Honda Cadet Champion
2016 Shenington KRC Honda Cadet Champion!
2016 Shenington KRC Most Promising Cadet!
2017 Northern Karting Federation Vice Champion!
In 2019, Maurice transitioned from karts, to cars and joined the F1000 Junior Rally Championship. With consistent progress, Maurice started the 2020 season with a win at the opening round!
December 2020 - Ginetta Junior Scholarship Winner for 2021! Click Here!