are glamorous girls essential to motorsport?

[numbersix]

Originally Posted by Slippy Diff

Anyone would think some of you lot feel threatened by good looking girls............

I'd feel threatened by a good lookin' anything ...

[mark_l]

If we dont have good looking girls on the grid the drivers wont know where to line up because the board will have fallen over, and just imagine all the chaos with the loose umbrellas blowing about without any girls to hold them.

[Slippy Diff]

I cannot understand the dissenters problems with grid or promo girls. First of, isn't it up to the teams to decide where to spend their budgets, not forum subscribees? The girls are earning a living by doing something that they must enjoy in some form or the other, whether that be for the motorsport side of things or possibly getting together with other females and having a good day out. I would also hazard a guess that a large majority are doing the job to help pay for schooling/university? It is supply and demand, just like the porno and prostitute industry (both sexes), teams/drivers/sponsors want some glamour on the grid and the girls provide a service in return for pay.
Good grief, what is the problem?
I had a great chat with a promo girl at Phillip Islands MotoGP round last year. She was working for the Oz post office and was earning money to help pay her way through university. She was very intelligent, very pretty and very charming and was very open to having her pic taken for me to use in my MotoGP report. She was not being forced to hand out leaflets, it was her own choice and she was getting good money.

Some of you should get off your high horses and give them a break, what harm is it doing to you?

[gttouring]

i like girls at the grid. well i wouldn't mind mascots there either
the girls are the mascots!
no giant bears and chickens here

[Suze]

I've been doing it this season for BF3 - it's down to each team to sort it out, and it's your own clothes etc etc but you'll quite often see not all the drivers have someone doing it or it's a mechanic! I don't go to the racing to specifically do it, I go because I want to see the racing / see friends etc. Imo, some of the girls do it because they love the attention and flaunting themselves etc but the attention side of things doesn't bother me it's something I do just because!

[SeaneyC]

Originally Posted by Slippy Diff

I cannot understand the dissenters problems with grid or promo girls. First of, isn't it up to the teams to decide where to spend their budgets, not forum subscribees? The girls are earning a living by doing something that they must enjoy in some form or the other, whether that be for the motorsport side of things or possibly getting together with other females and having a good day out. I would also hazard a guess that a large majority are doing the job to help pay for schooling/university? It is supply and demand, just like the porno and prostitute industry (both sexes), teams/drivers/sponsors want some glamour on the grid and the girls provide a service in return for pay.
Good grief, what is the problem?
I had a great chat with a promo girl at Phillip Islands MotoGP round last year. She was working for the Oz post office and was earning money to help pay her way through university. She was very intelligent, very pretty and very charming and was very open to having her pic taken for me to use in my MotoGP report. She was not being forced to hand out leaflets, it was her own choice and she was getting good money.

Some of you should get off your high horses and give them a break, what harm is it doing to you?

Don't get me wrong, everyone loves a pretty girl, but the fact is that although the viewing figures on TV seem to be growing for many motorsport events in the UK, the apparant glamour would appear to be waning, hence the initial post in this thread by Gridmodels, who runs some kind of grid girl agency/company. Surely the fact that this post has to be made, asking us what we think, gives us enough indication that perhaps the grid girl is losing popularity as a viable expense, and we are merely offering various views and opinions on this matter, no horse in sight. It's very nice that you got to talk to the motoGP grid girl in Phillip island, but certainly when i was at the F1 in Melbourne, there was no way joe public could just walk up and chat to the grid girls, you couldn't even walk anywhere near the main straight!!

[Snapper Baz]

Wilbo, if you dont have half a dozen girls around your car at Brands you are gonna be in for you see!

[Wilbo]

It's my only chance of meeting a beautiful lady because I can't afford to go out anymore!

Better start thinking where to hide then, ummm, truck belly lockers......?

[Sheila M]

As a woman very much involved in motorsport, I'm intrigued by this thead.

I have, over the course of many years, met many grid girls, all of whom were delightful in their own way but regrettably had nothing whatsoever to offer the sport (and in most cases no knowledge of it either - they turned up because of what they were paid for the day). Motorsport is a family thing where you can take the wife (or husband) and kids to enjoy the racing, not scantily clad females.

Grid girls may appeal to some people but what is essential to motosport is more marshals. Without marshals there would be no racing and therefore no need for grid girls.

[chezza]

Hear hear sheila!

Further to the family thing...do you really want your 8 year old son being confronted with a woman with most of her boobs hanging out?

Although knowing a couple of grid girls from the short ovals, they do usually have half an idea whats going on, having their favourite driver and that.

As a woman involved in motorsport, and with a partner who is a driver I have to accept that the girls are a part of the sport and accept that it is a bit of fun...theres no point in getting jealous over these things. However they are not essential to motorsport in the slightest and they would not be missed if they weren't there.

[Wilbo]

I do agree with both the above threads. We are just having a bit of fun really.

I'm doing my bit, I am a marshal as well as a racer

[Wilbo]

O just wanted to add that today and Oulton Park (Sat) two very attractive young twenty somthings were handing out promtional cards.

I do agree they are not essential to motorsport.

The point though is that more or less every guy (circa 16+) took a card, read it and put it in their pockets. Therefore job done. If direct marketing is the key (males) then it works a treat. The company are therefore happy with increased brand awareness hopefuly increased sales and therefore continue to sponsor the team/driver(s), therefore providing the budget for one or two more cars on the grid. So it does have it's place.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Sheila M

As a woman very much involved in motorsport, I'm intrigued by this thead.

I have, over the course of many years, met many grid girls, all of whom were delightful in their own way but regrettably had nothing whatsoever to offer the sport (and in most cases no knowledge of it either - they turned up because of what they were paid for the day). Motorsport is a family thing where you can take the wife (or husband) and kids to enjoy the racing, not scantily clad females.

Grid girls may appeal to some people but what is essential to motosport is more marshals. Without marshals there would be no racing and therefore no need for grid girls.

How about scantily clad grid girls as marshals? It's an idea.... Instead of grid girls we'll have marshal girls with flags and stuff.

[Wilbo]

An idea, but could be dangerous in terms of driver concentration!!!

[Chris Y]

Originally Posted by Wilbo

O just wanted to add that today and Oulton Park (Sat) two very attractive young twenty somthings were handing out promtional cards.

The point though is that more or less every guy (circa 16+) took a card, read it and put it in their pockets. Therefore job done.

Thing is, I believe most people who accepted the cards would have accepted them from a bloke as well - it's more to do with accepting the card being the 'polite' thing to do, certainly in this country. I've noticed that people will accept just about anything given out to them, just to get away

[Sheila M]

I've been at Mallory Park all day today and not a grid girl in sight (presumably because it was a "clubbie" meeting and therefore not high profile enough). We had some excellent racing with fairly full grids. Which kind of emphasises my previous point that grid girls are not essential to motorsport - good, full grids, excellent racing and more marshals are.

I asked a question of some male drivers today - is having grid girls a form of sex discrimination? Most of them said "yes".

Don't forget that there are women drivers out there, they may not want a girl on the grid, they may prefer a hunk with a six pack and a pair of tight lycra shorts instead.

Personally speaking I'd far rather these pretty girls wandered round trying to recuit new marshals or new drivers.

[Slippy Diff]

Originally Posted by Sheila M

I asked a question of some male drivers today - is having grid girls a form of sex discrimination? Most of them said "yes".

Ha ha, like they were going to say 'no' when asked a question like that by a female.

Originally Posted by Sheila M

Which kind of emphasises my previous point that grid girls are not essential to motorsport - good, full grids, excellent racing and more marshals are.

Caterers, cleaners, car park attendants, security guards etc are all present at race meetings. They are not essential to motorsport, but they provide a service on the day and get paid for it.

[chezza]

Using that analogy...what service to the grid girls provide?

Caterers feed us, there would be complaints if there was no food available
Cleaners make sure the facilities that we find so important are clean for use, etc...

Grid girls stand there wasting the budget of these "cash strapped" teams...they are not essential.

[Sheila M]

Originally Posted by Slippy Diff

Ha ha, like they were going to say 'no' when asked a question like that by a female..

Especially one in possession of a broomstick!

Seriously, I have known a lot of these "clubbie" types for years and I believe they would give me an honest answer.

Anyway, you only ever see grid girls at the high profile, televised meetings.

[Slippy Diff]

Originally Posted by chezza

Caterers feed us, there would be complaints if there was no food available Cleaners make sure the facilities that we find so important are clean for use, etc....

Maybe, but they don't ensure a good days racing. Apparently, good grids, excellent racing and more marshals is all that is required for a good days racing.

Originally Posted by chezza

Grid girls stand there wasting the budget of these "cash strapped" teams...they are not essential.

Isn't it up to the teams to decide how to spend their budget, not you? If they have decided that a grid girl promoting their sponsors products/services etc is more important than the latest engine management system, then so be it, THEIR choice, not yours or mine.

[Slippy Diff]

Originally Posted by Sheila M

Seriously, I have known a lot of these "clubbie" types for years and I believe they would give me an honest answer..

Well, as a man, I believe that we would give the answer that would result in the least grief i.e the one you want to hear.

Originally Posted by Sheila M

Anyway, you only ever see grid girls at the high profile, televised meetings.

And?

[chezza]

I'm sorry but i totally agree with Sheila on this one.

Good Grids, make excellent racing...more marshals make sheilas and my job a lot easier, and they are far more important than grid girls.

You you rather go to a meeting that had only 6 cars in every race but loads of grid girls or would you rather see full grids??

Personally its full grids everytime!

[Slippy Diff]

Originally Posted by chezza

You you rather go to a meeting that had only 6 cars in every race but loads of grid girls or would you rather see full grids??

Too many championships/race series are to blame for small grids, not scantily clad girls.

[chezza]

I am not saying that the grid girls are to blame...I am saying that big grids are more essential than grid girls.

[Slippy Diff]

Originally Posted by chezza

I am saying that big grids are more essential than grid girls.

I agree, yes they are.
BUT, grid girls have nothing whatsoever to do with the lack of entries at race meetings. So what is the problem if they are there?