Isle of Man TT: History-maker Michael Russell 'lives and breathes' Manx road race
- Published
Michael Russell and passenger Vicky Cooke in action in their sidecar
Such is history-maker Michael Russell's passion for the Isle of Man TT that he confesses that the renowned international road race is what he "goes to sleep thinking about at night and what he wakes up thinking about in the morning".
In 2022 the RAF serviceman became the first competitor to start every TT race in a single week, taking part in all eight events, solos and sidecars.
This year the 42-year-old takes up an even more daunting challenge as he aims to begin each of the 10 scheduled races which form an extended programme.
"It's all I live and breathe," Russell told me as we sat in his race awning in the privateers' paddock reflecting on the possibility of carving out a further place in the history of the world-famous motorcycle race.
"I know it's a dangerous event but that's part of the thrill of it. We're doing something that not everyone can do.
"The aim is to start every race but it's also to finish them all too."
'My first reaction was absolutely not'
It could all have been so different however had the Oxfordshire man followed his initial instincts when first presented with the opportunity of tackling the 37.73-mile Mountain Course.
"I only started motorcycling when I was 23, and while at first I didn't consider getting into racing, the 'need for speed' took over and I participated in some short circuits in 2005," explained Russell, now living in Cornwall, who has been a serving member of the RAF since 2002, and based at Brize Norton.
A posting to Iraq scuppered his plans to try and further his two-wheel career but it was the influence of fellow RAF man and successful TT rider, Gordon Blackley, that first planted the seed of racing on the fearsome Mountain Circuit.
"My first reaction was absolutely not. I watched some on-board laps and my first impression was that it was just mental," he said.
"But I took some on-board laps with me to watch while I was in Iraq, landed home just before the Manx Grand Prix [the amateur form of the TT] was meant to take place and was granted permission to compete as a newcomer in 2007.
"I had never seen a bike race round the TT course prior to riding it and had I seen it then there would have been no way I would have raced it."
Despite his reservations, Russell soon became hooked by the intoxicating lure of the most daunting of racing circuits.
"You can do as much preparation as you want but it only becomes real when you go down Bray Hill for the first time.
"As soon as I did my first lap there was nothing else to compare with riding that course. I came back grinning like a Cheshire cat and I never looked back.
"When you get on the bike and head down Bray Hill, regardless of what else is going on in your life, financially or emotionally, nothing matters."
Michael Russell on board his BMW machine during Superstock practice
Russell won the Senior Manx Grand Prix in 2009 and went on to make his debut at the TT the following year, but it was only when he started his involvement with sidecars late in 2018 that the idea of competing in every class began to take root.
"2020 was going to be the first attempt at doing all the races but Covid scuppered that," he reflected.
"You are only permitted to do so many laps in the day but the ACU [who organise the TT] looked at it and said we could do it, the schedule they had laid out for the event allowed for it.
"We managed to put together a full stable of bikes and I started all eight races last year, finishing seven of them.
"It was very physically and mentally demanding and I was running on adrenaline by the end of the week.
"Unfortunately, a minor technical issue, a bolt, thwarted me finishing the Senior and I was quite emotional about it, I felt really deflated.
"I was in tears when my machine broke down but I regrouped, came back to the paddock and me and my team had some champagne.
"The TT is the toughest challenge on man and machine so I'm under no illusions how difficult it is to finish any given race."
'Getting your head up to speed'
Riding a variety of capacities of solo bikes presents its own challenges, but being the driver of a sidecar brings with it a different responsibility.
"Jumping from smaller bikes to big bikes is difficult. They are very different in terms of how you sit, how you react, and the braking markers vary so much.
"We do what we can with a set budget so given how much it costs to do the TT, we use any money left over to do other races like the Southern 100.
"Unfortunately I ride very little competitively, my 'be all and end all' is the TT, anything else is just a bonus and something to tick the boxes I need to get back to race there.
"We can't afford to do the likes of the North West 200 or BSB so that means the first time I get on the 1000cc bike each year is when I go down Bray Hill on the Isle of Man. You have to get your head up to speed.
"Vicky Cooke is my sidecar passenger this year, she is behind me so she is my responsibility, and that is something I take very seriously.
"Riding a solo you have that suspension but the battering you take in a sidecar is ridiculous. It requires a different mentality."