Don't forget, both driver and co-driver have created those notes together, very precisely, before the rally. No one is scared or annoyed or yelling at each other. It’s just the system of communicating they’ve come up with that works. STOP, and COME BACK etc mean something very specific. And it is common for a driver to want to be told several times about what an approaching corner is, if there is time or if it has been agreed beforehand on a difficult corner.
@p710 No need to oversimplify matters. Getting a car to the end of the stage is a JOINT effort between the driver and the co-driver. Each give significant, yet different contributions to the vehicle. Saying that party A or party B is driving the car is like saying it's the engine that gets a car going, not the transmission.
@p710 Also, Nesbitt has a hearing issue. The intensity is an important part of their delivery, especially for sections where the driver needs to pay special attention. However, the sheer volume is a simple matter of a hearing problem mixed in with the sound of a loud, straight cut gearbox, and a fierce little four-banger turbo.
He is not shouting so the driver can hear him, both have a volume knob on the intercom they can turn up or down independently. It is the severity in his voice that means something to the driver, when the co-driver increases his voice or increases the urgency in his voice, the driver picks up on that and will react.
The driver does not give up just because he can’t breathe, and neither does the co-driver. In fact, it’s the other way around, the co-driver is spurring the driver on, go faster, go faster, go, go! That’s the feeling both the driver and the co-driver have. You should try it sometime, it’s great.
We all have our special way of writing pace notes and both driver and co-pilot work very closely together, you have to if you want to finish the stage. He may sound scared to you, but he is very certainly is not.
The driver will listen very intently to his co-driver, because the co-driver has the notes in front of him and knows what kind of corner it really is. Sure they may have already done the stage before and know some parts, but even then you really do listen to the co-driver. If you want to finish the stage in one piece, anyway.
For example, at 9:44 it may appear that the co-driver is panicking. But he is not, he just got the wind knocked out of him from the jump (both of them did). You really get the sh*t kicked out of you in a real competition car, it’s not like PlayStation. He MUST continue giving the driver the info about the corner that is already there, even though he has no breath, and he literally spits it out.
Most people think the driver is driving the car, but it is actually the co-driver. If the co-driver says blind SLOW LEFT, the driver will go slow around the left even if it’s really a blind fast left. What else can the driver do?
No, the driver is driving the car, that's a simple fact. The co driver is relaying the notes that the driver has assigned during the recce. The driver is the one using the car control and driving talent to take each corner as fast as possible based on the note the driver assigned for that corner. The Co driver has a very important job in delivering the notes accurately and on time, but to say it's the co driver is driving the car is both factually incorrect and ridiculous to boot.
