KEY POINTS:
Other than noticing them visually, I'd never really thought about what it's like to be a grid girl, a brolly dolly.
But at the A1GP at Taupo this year, my thoughts turned from "What a marvellous visual ornament" to "Why the heck would you do that?"
It was
a miserable day. The wind was coming straight off the lake at about 30-40 knots. Parts of the temporary stands were being blown off, and the people sitting in row 31 (way at the top) were wrapped up like Bedouins in a sand storm trying to keep the dust out.
But those girls were still down there on the grid, holding their placards up, in attire that left little to the imagination. I've heard about the windswept look, but this was more the "I've been dragged through a hedge backwards" look.
So why would you want to do it? To stand next to a race car, getting covered in dirt and dust, smelling of petrol and oil and at an event you might know nothing about and don't understand.
Glamour.
Motorsport is about glamour, and for that you need glamorous girls. They add that extra visual zip to fast cars with go-faster strips and bright colour schemes.
Sponsors love it. These women grace driver signings, wheel changes and the grid. Photographers now have something alluring to snap rather than a half-buried helmet in a cockpit. Magazines and newspapers love the look of naked flesh mingled with the dirt and grime of racing.
In Europe these girls can make a career out of it. Jordan (Katie Price) got her big break as Eddie Jordan's advertisement for his Jordan Formula One team and is now reputedly worth more than £1 million ($2.7 million). These girls, as well as exposing a fair amount of flesh, get serious media exposure that can help further their modelling careers.
On the question of staying warm, Nicola Curry of Nitromodels, last year's Miss V8 Supercars New Zealand round winner, says the organisers take great care of the girls, whatever the weather.
The girls are hired through promotional agencies and pay rates depends on the event and who you're working for. They can expect to earn between $20 and $60 an hour. Not as much as you think, considering the inevitability of certain people trying to hit on the girls.
"It comes with the territory, you meet a huge variety of people involved in this sort of sport," says Curry.
"You try and give everyone the time of day, but never let it go too far. It's very flattering people find you attractive and are interested in meeting you. You meet everyone from fans, corporate sponsors, drivers and even get to meet a few mums with their kids.
"Most girls I know, who are grid girls, love being a part of a high-profile, high-energy event."
No matter what your position is on eye candy, you've got to applaud a girl who can stand around in little more than a bathing costume, smile for six hours, remain pleasant the whole time, all the while outside in a New Zealand autumn.
