We’re all familiar with office chair racing. Most of us have raced down hallways in school or at work, but that’s as far as we’ve taken it. Leave it to the Germans to things to the next level. 

This past April was the third annual Office Chair Racing Championship, held in the town of Bad Koenig. Sixty-four racers participated in everything from your typical run-down office chair to tricked-out masterpieces featuring inline skate wheels. Racers start off going down a ramp to give them a boost, and can hit speeds of up to 22 mph.  Along the 200 meter route they have to navigate multiple ramps and jumps. Here’s a short video of the event: 

Since we are cooped up in our offices for eight hours at a time, sitting in the same old chairs, this seemed like a brilliant idea. We got some of our chairs together and started comparing them for what features we’d like in our racers. Top on our list were that they had to have a 5-point base for stability, an adjustable pneumatic seat for suspension and shock absorbing, and hard wheels for additional speed. Here are our top picks:

For the intern or entry-level racer, money is important but there are still some nice chairs like the HON ComforTask Chair on the market. You will probably want to pick up some separate handrails to hold onto though.

Mid-level managers will be looking for something with more style and comfort, and for them we found the HON Boda Chair. Everything on this seat is adjustable, allowing you to fit it to your specific needs all while showing that you have an eye for design.

If you consider yourself “upper management” and come to work in a BMW, Mercedes, or Audi, you are going to want a chair that evokes the same status as your car. For you, we went all out in choosing the top of the line Ignition Chair. This is the ultimate in comfort, allowing you to roll over bumps and jumps and hardly feel a thing.

These are just our picks. If you have a favorite chair you’d like to race in, please put it in the comments.