Wok racing

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Four-person wok in starting position (Note the ladles worn under the feet)
Four-person wok in starting position (Note the ladles worn under the feet)

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 Pro7 as special edition of Raab's show "TV total".

Contents

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 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 (of course with woks) to determine the starting order. Further the sport event was professionalized. The 4-person-woksleds were sponsored by Nissan, IKEA and BRAVO Magazine.

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] before the race.

World champion Georg Hackl in his wok
World champion Georg Hackl in his wok

Year World Champion
2003 Flag of Germany Stefan Raab
2004 Flag of Germany Georg Hackl
2005 Flag of Germany Georg Hackl
2006 Flag of Republic of Ireland Joey Kelly
2007 Flag of Germany Georg Hackl

Year World Champion Drivers
2003 Flag of Germany Dick Brave and the Backbeats Sasha & Co.
2004 Pro7 team Ralf Zacherl, Stefan Gödde, Dominik Bachmair, Simon Gosejohann
2005 Pro7 team Joey Kelly, Stefan Gödde, Charlotte Engelhardt, Lukas Hilbert
2006 Flag of Germany Fisherman's Friend team Sandra Kiriasis, Christoph Langen, Silke Kraushaar, Susi Erdmann
2007 SEAT team Sven Hannawald, Susi Kentikian, Christina Surer, Markus Beyer

  • 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)

One-person Wok
Rank Athlete Time
1 Flag of Republic of Ireland Joey Kelly 1:54.395
2 Flag of Germany Georg Hackl + 2.797
3 Flag of Germany Stefan Raab + 4.817
4 Flag of Germany Sven Hannawald + 7.412
5 Flag of Austria Markus Prock + 9.460
6 Flag of Germany Andre Lange + 10.036
7 Flag of Germany Smudo + 15.087
8 Flag of Switzerland Christina Surer + 18.098
9 Flag of Germany Elton + 20.589
10 Flag of United States Bruce Darnell + 1:02.711
Four-person Wok
Rank Team Time
1 Fisherman's Friend Gold-Wok 1:46.960
2 Seat Hackl-Wok + 1.084
3 betandwin Sport-Wok + 3.765
4 Mister+Lady Jeans Ladies-Wok + 4.057
5 Pro7 Märchen-Wok + 4.303

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