By Frankie Chee

The Formula One (F1) car race that roars into Singapore next month will have some va-va-voom along with the vroom.

Forty-four leggy lasses have been chosen from more than 300 hopefuls to be SingTel Grid Girls, who will mingle
with the race-day crowds and add pizzazz to the pit stops.

Their sexy outfits-coordinated with the uniforms of the racing teams they will be guiding- perky smiles, glowing
make-up and lively personalities are sure to make them camera targets at the big event being held from Sept 26 to 28.

However, they will be more than pretty faces - the girls will stand at the start of the races and guide the revving race cars into their positions on the start-line 'grid'.

They will use flags to guide the race-day daredevils.

As to whether they will also drive the red-blooded male drivers to distraction, grid girl Cheryl Tay, 21, tells LifeStyle: "We're not race queens nor just a flesh parade.

We're grid girls and we actually have something to do on the track.

Ms Tay, a student, was referring to grid girls in Japan whose main job is to parade in skimpy outfits.

Emphasising that it is not all about looks, fellow grid girl, undergraduate Lim Siqi, 22, says: "We are not the prettiest of the lot but we are more real. We look more like girls on the street, not supermodels, so people can associate with us better.

After all, this is a heartland country.

LifeStyle met 10 of the girls mostly students aged between 19 and 25 - last Tuesday for an exclusive interview and photo session.

The SingTel Grid Girls are organised by the telco, which is also the title sponsor of Singapore's F1 event. SingTel corporate communications manager Tricia Lee says the 44 women were chosen based on their personality and how they carried themselves.

From that number, 20 were picked to take part in a reality show called SingTel Grid Girls, which will debut on MediaCorp Channel 5 on Thursday.

The four-part show will select three finalists for a contest called SingTel Grid Girl.

The winner will get $20,000 and be the face of the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix.

The three finalists also have the honour of symbolically 'flagging off' the F1 races,although green signal lights, not the girls flags, will actually set the cars roaring off.

The 30-minute TV shows will see the girls go through a sequence of quizzes and challenges.

Some of the women are so keen to be part of the action that they are taking time off studies and work. The women do not know yet how much they will be paid.

But the real pull is the perks: a free ticket to the race pits and a chance to get up close and personal with the drivers.
Grid girl Casey Fan, 25, yelps: "I'm looking forward to meeting driver Kimi Raikkonen.

"I'm a big fan. I also want to see how they change the tyres and all the action that goes on in the pits."

But while the medical sales representative follows F1 and names Ferrari as her favourite team, not all the grid girls are avid race fans.

Some could rattle off names of drivers and teams, but others, such as business development executive Fadilah Amir Hamzah,23, admit they do not follow the sport much.

Still, she says: "Just because I don't follow it, it doesn't mean I can't be involved in it".

This is a proud event for Singapore and to be part of it will be amazing.

Let's hope she doesn't mix up Fernando Alonso with Lewis Hamilton, who were team-mates last year but now share a heated rivalry.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on August 24,2008.

For the full story, visit straitstimes.com