Is an under-the-radar record set to be broken at the Isle of Man TT?
This year, with the schedule increased to 10 races, he is aiming to start every one to break his own record of eight races from 2022.
His entry into both solo and sidecar races will give him a unique opportunity - he has raced three times at this year’s event already, and plans to enter the next seven too.
"2020 was going to be the first attempt at doing all the races but Covid scuppered that," Russell told the BBC.
"You are only permitted to do so many laps in the day but the ACU [the event organisers] 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."
Part of the allure of Russell’s record-seeking is that competes in both solo and sidecar categories.
“Jumping from smaller bikes to big bikes is difficult,” he said.
“They are very different in terms of how you sit, how you react, and the braking markers vary so much.
"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."
Russell is 42, an RAF serviceman. Gordon Blackley, a fellow serviceman and a TT rider, enticed him to compete on the Mountain Course for the first time.
Russell won the Senior Manx Grand Prix in 2009, started racing at the TT in 2010, and started in sidecars in 2018.
"I know it's a dangerous event but that's part of the thrill of it,” he said. “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."
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
