Wok did you say? Introducing the Wok Racing World Championship

Wok racing? Yep, there really is a Wok Racing World Championship event, and the sport is massively popular in Germany. Having been developed by the celebrity TV host and all-round entertainer Stefan Raab, quite simply competitors jump on a modified Chinese wok and head down an Olympic bobsleigh track as fast as they can.

Broadcast live to a prime-time television audience of millions on German TV show ‘wok WM’, and in front of around 6,000 spectators at the Olympic Sliding Centre in Innsbruck, a Husqvarna TE449 machine — complete with ice spikes — was used to transport host Stefan Raab from the competitor area to the outdoor studio, on the bobsleigh run!

Raab is the founder and previous winner of this event that attracts a variety of celebrities and professional winter sports athletes, including three-time Olympic luge champion Georg Hackl and even the Jamaican bobsleigh team of ‘Cool Runnings’ fame. Wanting to make a special entrance and — more importantly — not to slip over on the polished ice surface, Raab received some special training from BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna Motorcycles stunt rider Chris Pfeiffer, who is no stranger to riding motorcycles on tricky surfaces.

Host Stefan Raab used the TE449 Husqvarna to transport himself from the competitor area to the outdoor studio on the bosleigh run

As it turned out, Raab made his run successfully on the Husqvarna TE449 and the show featured an entertaining variety of competitions, including single ‘woksleds’ and four-person woksleds, which consist of two pairs of woks, bolted onto a frame. Qualifying for the finals was equally entertaining, as participants had to jump with their woks off a ski-jump into a deep pool of water, with the distance travelled determining the starting order.

Wok Racing

So what is Wok Racing like? Take a look at this video from a previous year’s event.

For Husqvarna Motorcycles Christian Wettach, it was a perfect product placement:

“All of Raabs TV shows such as the daily talk show ‘TV Total’ as well as ‘Schlag den Raab’ are very popular shows. Also the yearly show ‘Wok WM’ ranks easily in this league. Broadcast at the most popular time on a Saturday night, this year it was great that host Stefan Rabb wanted to ride the Husqvarna TE449 on the bobsleigh track. Stefan is a keen off-road rider and Chris Pfeiffer had trained him well as he stayed upright, thanks to the ice spikes. It was interesting to see all these crazy guys and girls sliding down the track on Chinese woks, but we’ve made a suggestion that next year they use genuine Husqvarna grilling pans instead, which could make them go even faster, and could also be used to fry the perfect steak in afterwards!”

Two big woks are joined together for the four-person woksled race.

To see some footage of the Wok Racing and Stefan Raab on the ice view the video clip at http://tvtotal.prosieben.de/tvtotal/videos/player/index.html?contentId=101478&initialTab=sendung&showId=1596-02 (there is a lot of talking, in German).

Pics: ProSieben / Willi Weber