There's some interesting points being discussed here, and the thread does have its merits, but let's not turn this into a slanging match please people 
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Originally Posted by gridmodels
ok, so in that case why doesn't everyone who works in motorsport should do it for free just for the love of it then? no of course they don't! A person should enjoy your work that's all!!!!!!
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Taking this a little off topic, there are a number of people who do get involved "just for the love of it" - thinking of course of marshals and drivers at lower levels (in fact at financial detriment).
There could well be an argument that grid girls, if they are in it mainly for enjoyment, should just accept a free ticket and do their required duties, and then enjoy the day at all other times. Of course, this isn't purely the case, and I'm sure that although there are a number of professional grid girls (for lack of a better term, I'm sure there is one though...) that enjoy motorsport and the atmosphere, there is certainly a large number that are just in it for a job, I struggle to believe otherwise.
Answering the question directly - as a promotional tool, of course glamorous girls are needed - sex sells! They're not directly essential to motorsport - they don't generally add anything to the meeting. But indirectly, they
do make people look at the sponsors and raise sponsor's profiles, thus draw in more sponsors, and sponsors bring in the money, and the money is needed for the racing. There's probably other ways that sponsor's profiles can be raised, so grid girls are not a necessity or an only means - and as we've seen in the BTCC this year can be cut. But they have traditionally been shown to work, so if it ain't broke, why fix it? And there's other nicities, of course ;-)