Comparing different drivers' pace notes

[expat]

I have just been comparing 3 drivers' notes for about 60 km of stages on a vaguely statistical basis, which has produced some interesting and counter-intuitive results.
For example, the number of crests/jumps in the notes varies a lot. The most experienced driver had 147 crests/jumps, the middle driver had 173 and the least-experienced driver had 253. Quite a difference, and perhaps not the way you would expect the figures to go, with the least experienced driver noting 72% more crests/jumps than the most experienced. Perhaps you would guess that the more experienced driver would put more information in their notes, but it seems that experience allows a driver to identify which crests are important and discard the rest. Maybe this is a case where less is more.

[Rallynavigator]

maybe it's a case of less is more

Over a 37 mile distance you feel this is excessive for a less experienced note maker. The  fact the information is laid out would beg the question of how is that instruction relayed to the driver. Do you feel the driver would also contribute to the making of the notes and it would be a team effort for being "over cautious "

[expat]

It isn't possible to say whether a given number of crests (or anything else) in a certain distance is excessive without a comparison to other drivers, which is why I made this comparison. The actual number depends on the terrain of course. However it is interesting that the least experienced driver had more of everything - except landmarks. For example, they noted more straights (43% more than the most experienced driver). The most experienced driver averaged 1 note every 205 metres whilst the least experienced driver averaged 1 note every 144 metres. The "correct" figure depends on the road, so these figures are only useful as a way to compare different drivers' notes.

Feb 4, 2013 6:30:25 GMT Rallynavigator said:

The fact the information is laid out would beg the question of how is that instruction relayed to the driver.

I don't follow what you mean, so I can't respond to that.

Do you feel the driver would also contribute to the making of the notes

The driver doesn't just "also contribute", the driver makes (decides/dictates) the notes and the co-driver just writes them down. They are the driver's notes, not the co-driver's.
Having been the co-driver when all three of these sets of notes were made I can say that for the 2 more experienced drivers I just wrote down what the driver dictated and didn't have any input into the content. For the less experienced driver I tried (unsuccessfully) to discourage putting too much into the notes in general terms, but the specific content of the notes was almost entirely decided by the driver. (This was a case of a less experienced driver, not a novice driver and not a driver new to notes, so I wasn't guiding or teaching. For a real novice I would have provided more input into the content of the notes but this was a driver who believed they knew what they were doing and didn't need or want input from me.)