A new local reality show about bikini babes-turned-racing car drivers might be aimed at guys but its producers reckon women will be watching too. SCOTT KARA reports
Car racing and bikini-clad grid girls go hand-in-hand - like bosom buddies if you like. It's a combination that forms the basis of new television series Girl Racers and while it's likely to be a hit with the blokes, the producers of the show believe it will also appeal to female viewers.
Despite the title, it's not a documentary about the female answer to boy racers - more like a motorsport show meets New Zealand's Next Top Model, with Girls of the Playboy Mansion as an inspiration too.
The series follows eight "grid girls" - those women paid to be decorative at racetracks - who swap their bikinis for racing suits as they compete against each other in six styles of motor racing, including everything from A1GP, to drifting, and the crash and bash of stock cars.
The thing is, they're not always wearing top-to-toe garb and a skimpy two-piece uniform is the norm, making it more about babes in bikinis than burning rubber.
"It's shamelessly a show for guys. There is no question about that," says co-producer and creator Nick Ward. "But the reality is that the kind of people who watch shows like Girls of the Playboy Mansion and America's Next Top Model are primarily female. They watch those shows because they are the stories of girls and Girl Racers is the inspirational story of females doing car racing, which is predominantly a man's world."
Ward and James Anderson, the brains behind Auckland TV production company Two Heads Ltd, are also the creators of other bikini-dominant shows like Nicky Watson Calendar Girl and Miss Hawaiian Tropic, as well as C4 music series Making Tracks.
The idea for Girl Racers came about last year and Ward says it was based purely on what a bloke might want to see in a TV show - while also wanting to potentially reach a wider audience.
"We also like reality TV, so rather than make a straight car show we wanted to make something to hook in the reality audience, hook in females, as well as other males who aren't so interested in cars."
Ward says there is nothing sexist about the show and he reckons it's all about having a bit of fun and making sexy television.
"I think there is a strong female audience for it but hey, they're wearing bikinis because we thought, 'Let's have some fun with this and not take it all too seriously'. And we don't hide the fact they are grid girls. You watch Girls of the Playboy Mansion and it's a bit sexy and when you watch Girl Racers it's a bit sexy too. I know the girls that worked on the show all love it."
The contestants include 21-year-old Gale Chan, who is out to prove the stereotype of "heinous Asian drivers" wrong; Surfers Paradise-based bikini model Gemma Farrell who worries that her hair will go flat under the helmet; and 22-year-old Carena West who has worked at car racing events such as the A1GP but never thought she'd get the chance to be behind the wheel of a Formula Challenge car, which she describes as a "glorified go-kart".
West, whose first car was a Mitsubishi Lancer called "Bungle", agrees Girl Racers is blatantly targeted at the guys. "But I would like to hope girls tune in because it's about us racing competitively. With a bit of practise I think any one of the girls could, if they decided to get into their favourite discipline, do really well on the race track against the guys."
And it wouldn't be a reality TV show without a resident bitch emerging as the series goes on.
"I'm not going to say there was a bitch," says West diplomatically, "but there was somebody that a few people didn't get along with.
"It was more of a personality clash I think. But because we were in a competitive situation it was a bit difficult. And as the show goes on the girls get more and more competitive with each other. We do get closer too, but at the same time you can see there is a competitive thing in us that means we don't care if we beat the crap out of our really good friends."
LOWDOWN
What: Girl Racers with presenter Andrew Eggleton
Where & when: The Box, Wednesdays, 8.30pm. It also screens Saturdays 7pm and Sundays 10.30pm.
