Wok racing

Wok racing is a sport developed by the German TV host and entertainer Stefan Raab. Modified Chinese woks are used to make timed runs down an Olympic bobsled track. There are competitions for one-person-woksleds and four-person-woksleds, the latter using four woks per sled. The World Wok Racing Championships are aired by the German television channel ProSieben as special edition of Raab's show "TV total".

History

Wok racing was inspired by a bet in the German TV show "Wetten, dass..?". In November 2003, the "First official Wok World Championship" was broadcast from Winterberg. The immediate success led to the second world championship in Innsbruck on March 4, 2004. Participants are mostly b-list celebrities like pop singers, actors, and TV hosts, but there are also known athletes that have ongoing professional careers in winter sports, like three-time Olympic champion Georg Hackl and the Jamaican Bobsled Team.The third championship took place again in Winterberg on March 5, 2005. In contrast to the previous championships, there were two runs in which all contesters participated. The times of both runs were added. As a further innovation a qualifying round was created in which the participants had to jump from a trickski-jump with woks to determine the starting order. Further the sport event was professionalized.

Equipment

The typical racing woks are the ordinary round-bottomed Chinese pans, usually directly imported from China. The only modifications are that the bottom is reinforced with an epoxy filling and the edges of the wok are coated with polyurethane foam to avoid injuries. Four-person woksleds consist of two pairs of woks, each of them is held together by a rounded frame. The two pairs are connected by a coupling. Due to the rather risky nature of the sport the participants wear heavy protective gear, usually similar to ice hockey equipment. To further reduce friction and the risk of injuries, the athletes wear ladles under their feet.

To improve performance, the underside of the woks are often heated with a blowlamp before the race.

tatistics

Venues

* November 6, 2003: Winterberg
* March 4, 2004: Innsbruck
* March 5, 2005: Winterberg
* March 11, 2006: Innsbruck
* March 9, 2007: Innsbruck
* March 8, 2008: Altenberg

World Champions

One-person Wok

Four-person Wok

Records

* Speed Records
**Winterberg:
*** One-Person-Wok: 89.98 km/h (Georg Hackl, 2005)
*** Four-Person-Wok: 109.58 km/h (Nissan Racing Team, 2005)
** Innsbruck:
*** One-Person-Wok: 91.70 km/h (Georg Hackl, 2007)
*** Four-Person-Wok: 97.00 km/h (FROSTA, 2006)

* Course Records
** Winterberg:
*** One-Person-Wok: 47.621 seconds (Georg Hackl, 2005)
*** Four-Person-Wok: 57.117 seconds (TV total, 2005)
** Innsbruck:
*** One-Person-Wok: 54.840 seconds (Georg Hackl, 2007)
*** Four-Person-Wok: 52.527 seconds (Fisherman's Friend, 2006)

ee also

* Idiotarod
* Kinetic sculpture race
* Portland Urban Iditarod
* Shopping cart race
* Wife carrying
* Zoobomb

External links

* [http://tvtotal.prosieben.de/show/specials/wokwm2007/index.html Official information on the 2007 championships (German)]
* [http://tvtotal.prosieben.de/show/specials/wokwm2006/index.html Official information on the 2006 championships (German)]
* [http://tvtotal.prosieben.de/show/specials/wokwm2005/05261.html Official information on the 2005 championships (German)]